December 2019 - No handshake, no prisoners: The fallout from the finance royal commission

February 2019 - Link to Reports from the Royal Commission - VOLUME 1 ;  VOLUME 2 ;  VOLUME 3

February 2019 - Choice CEO - Alan Kirkland interview on the RC final report - You Tube

 

May 2018 - Open Letter to Prime Minister Turnbull

 

24/03/2018 - ABC News - Banking RC has some thinking it's the customer's fault. Here's why they're wrong

01/12/2017 - The Age - 'It can destroy you'_ Bank victims hope royal commission will bring justice 

30/11/2017 - ABC - Banks misconduct is not 'alleged' - CBA whistleblower Jeff Morris interviewed on The World Today

30/11/2017 - The Age - After years of bank scandals, the people have been heard 

 

30/11/2017 - ABC News - Malcolm Turnbull announces banking royal commission after big four call for inquiry to restore public faith

 

17/11/2017 - ABC News - Same-sex marriage divisions within Govt reignite push for royal commission into banks

08/11/2017 - The Conversation - It's time for a royal commission into banking regulation

06/08/2017 - New Daily - CBA's latest scandal makes royal commission 'inevitable'

05/08/2017 - The Age - Growing calls for a bank royal commission

25/07/2017 - SBS News - Time ripe for broader banking inquiry

15/06/2017 - The Age - Senate backs Commission of Inquiry into banks which then gets stymied

26/03/2017 - Senator Bob Katter - we need a Royal Commission into the banks now - watch speech on youtube

26/03/2017 - Andre Wilkie introduces a bill for mandatory banking code of conduct - watch speech on youtube 

23/03/2017 - Senator Peter Whish-Wilson - PM Turnbull 'running a protection racket' for bankers - watch speech on youtube 

01/09/2016 - Guardian - Labor wins votes in lower house to force Coalition to debate banking inquiry

13/04/2016 - Canstar - Will we see a Royal Commission into banking services

08/04/2016 - HNAB-AG Media Release - Call for Royal Commission into FSI 

 

 

 

30/06/2014 - Why a Royal Commission is necessary _{updated 09/07/2014} 

HNAB Action Group Call for a Royal Commission into the Financial Services Industry

It is revealing that The Wolf of Wall Street has received far greater public attention than Margin Call. The former movie glamorizes a perpetrator while the latter powerfully portrays the cold hard ruthlessness and machinations of financial institutions with no regard whatsoever for the impact on people.

Melbourne based suburban accountant and financial advisor, Peter Raymond Holt, has a history of using unsuspecting ordinary, hardworking, clients as his personal gambling chips to make himself multi-millions of dollars without care or concern for the inevitable financial decimation, loss of homes, bankruptcy and impact on their lives. It could be said that for rich Australians with financial and legal knowledge, bankruptcy is merely a tool in their arsenal to protect their assets and wealth. For them it is a strategy. For the rest of us bankruptcy ruins lives.

On 11 June 2014, Mr Holt was due to be discharged from his bankruptcy. In the past 3 years that he was a bankrupt he lived in his comfortable home in North Balwyn, drove a luxury car, played golf mid-week and continued to enjoy his assets and high-flying lifestyle.

Since 2008, almost 6 years later, his last crop of former clients are struggling to deal with catastrophic loss and debt in which he, lending institutions and product providers, have placed us. Mr Holt has done this before. He has been reported to ASIC on previous occasions - well before the members of our Action Group formed after his last hit on clients. We persisted and ASIC banned Peter Holt for 3 years. We believe his conduct warranted and met the criteria for a Life Ban.

It is vital that politicians and the industry protect the community.

To safeguard the community there must be:

1) proper regulation of the financial services industry to address unethical and criminal conduct - the Future of Financial Advice Reforms must ensure it occurs and to this end a Royal Commission is necessary.

2) a mechanism to stop the banks forcing victims to sell their homes or enter into settlements for investments in which people have been fraudulently placed. It must be carried out by a specially trained, and properly funded, body to investigate and to prosecute lenders, product issuers and advisors to make these crimes less easy or attractive for the industry and rogue advisors to perpetrate.

3) accountability from the government to be responsible to compensate the full extent of direct losses and related consequences where its regulators and the laws fail to safeguard people.

SUMMARY: Unless the government is accountable to pay compensation when its regulatory system fails there is no incentive to ensure laws safeguard the community. Rogue advisers and organizations get a green light to commit white collar crime. This decimates lives. As the GFC exposed, it can bring the global economy to its feet - perhaps in even worse scenarios in the future. 

 

 

News Articles

 

24/11/2017 - Brisbane Times - Scott Morrison working on 'last resort' compensation scheme for bank victims

 

External Dispute Resolution (EDR) Framework

 

June 2017 - SMH - Compensation scheme for financial victims will restore trust - Ian Ramsay

June 2017 - Treasury - External dispute resolution and complaints framework

April 2017 - EDR final report

February 2017 - HNAB view of Compensation and Restitution

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

White Collar Crime

March 2017 - Report tabled in Parliament -`Lifting the fear and suppressing the greed’: Penalties for white-collar crime and corporate and financial misconduct in Australia  

March 2016 - Submission by HNAB to Senate Inquiry - PENALTIES NEEDED FOR CORPORATE AND WHITE COLLAR CRIME 

Understanding the trauma of white collar crime.  

Link to Senate Inquiry here  - The HNAB Action Group submission is number 41.

 

 

Managed Investment Schemes

November 2016 - Australian Government Response to Bitter Harvest Report

March 2016 - Final Report issued - Agribusiness MIS Bitter Harvest

November 2014 - Senate Economics Committee Hansard (transcript) of Wednesday's Hearing - click this link 

Our Chairperson's full submission speech to the Hearing - click this link

Document outlining TC Fraud and Misconduct and the role of ANZ - click this link

Link to Senate Inquiry here - the HNAB Action Group submission is number 193 with many submissions listed being from our group members.

    

                     Melbourne Town Hall on 12th November, 2014.

 

 

The performance of ASIC

This link will take you to over 470 submissions received by the Economics Committee after Senator John Williams called for a formal enquiry. Most of the submissions are in reference to Low Doc Loans with many also referring to loss of homes, superannuation funds, rogue financial advisers, personal health issues etc.

Article - Scrutinising ASIC - a watchdog or a dog with no teeth?

Articles referencing the Senate Enquiry

Revealing Look at ASIC's Practices 

26/06/2014 - Inquiry into the Performance of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (email received by HNAB from the Senate Economics Committee) -

I am writing to advise you that on 26 June 2014 the final report into the Performance of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission was tabled in the Senate chamber.The report is available on the Committee's website or click here.

The tabling of the report represents the end of the Committee's inquiry. On behalf of the Committee, thank you for your participation in this inquiry. 

 

27/08/2014 - House Debate - Streamlining of FoFA - Kelvin Thomson, Member for Wills  

 

Consumer Protection Inquiry - in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Sector

Submission number 124 - HNAB-AG has now been uploaded with responses from KordaMentha, ANZ, Peter Holt and John Berrill

 

June 2017 - Independent Australia "More of the same", part 1 by Dr Evan Jones. 

Dr Evan Jones is a retired political economist. Read Dr Jones' submission (#87) to the Senate Inquiry here. 

A two-part investigation; read Part 2 here.

 

 

Scrutiny of Financial Advice

Link to Senate Inquiry here 

Link to submissions here.  The HNAB Action Group submission is number 128 made to the 44th Parliament.