Housing curbs reflect genuine concerns, says ABA's Anna Bligh

Australian Financial Review Apr 3 2017 11:00 PM

James Eyers

New Australian Bankers' Association chief executive Anna Bligh says it won't be her Labor background that helps the banks fend off a royal commission but actions that convince customers they are valued as much as shareholders.

The former Queensland premier has also backed moves by financial regulators targeting interest-only loans, saying they have presumably acted on "genuine and well-evidenced concerns".

Just a few hours into her first day on Monday as boss of the banking industry association, Ms Bligh warned that political pressure on the sector isn't going to abate any time soon because it reflects real customer anger that has resulted in an "erosion of trust" in the industry.

"I think the public want to see action and I know the government wants to see more action from banks," she said, pledging to accelerate the implementation timelines on various reviews into the sector.

"Some of the implementation falls to the ABA to coordinate but much of the hard yards will be done in our banks, and a very rigorous timeline and a monitoring process is needed to ensure that is happening," she said.

Broader issue

As the Greens and various Senate crossbenchers push for a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the sector and a royal commission remains Labor policy, Ms Bligh said supporting such moves are not necessarily ideological.

"I see those calls as symptomatic of a broader issue and part of that is the fact that the social licence to operate for our banks is more fragile than it has been for a very long time," she said from her new office in Pitt Street, Sydney.

"Banks are now subject to an unprecedented level of scrutiny through all of these reviews and reports. It all points to the same thing: that is, an erosion of trust in the banking industry."

While Australians trust banks to keep their money safe, "where our trust is fragile is when it comes to questions about how banks are managing the delicate balance between the interest of their savers, their lenders and their shareholders," she said. "It is my observation the broader public has lost confidence that banks have got that balance right.

"Positions are only persuasive if they have hard evidence. So not only do you need to see the implementation of changes bedded down and entrenched within banking culture, you need it to have existed for long enough for customers to have started feeling it."

After reports of her appointment in February ruffling feathers in the government, Ms Bligh downplayed the extent to which her political background will be effective lobbying bank critics.

"I don't think that banking in this country belongs to Liberal or Labor or One Nation – it belongs to every Australian. Our politicians on all sides will always respond when their electorate and the public more generally is unhappy and is making complaints to them.

"The thing that will ultimately shift the dial on this is real action, by the banking industry, that restores the respect of the broader public and their own customers."

Re-establish credibility

Banks need to be prepared for a long haul to re-establish credibility but bank executives appear to be up for the challenge, she said. "I am realistic about the political environment being quite difficult for some time, simply because it will be driven by the real concerns of the public. I have absolute confidence that the leadership of the banking industry has heard that message, and is ready for the kind of action that the public expects to see."

Ahead of her special address to the Australia Financial Review Banking & Wealth Summit on Wednesday, Ms Bligh also backed moves by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority on Friday and Australian Securities and Investments Commission on Monday morning to target interest-only loans.

"What you saw out of APRA on Friday is a perfect example of a regulatory agency looking deep at markets and understanding what is happening in them, and moving the regulatory framework accordingly," she said.

Asked whether APRA and ASIC are justified in targeting interest-only loans as a source of growing risk in the banking system, she replied: "I don't think that the prudential authority would have moved on this if they didn't have a genuine and well-evidenced concern."

Before taking on the role, Ms Bligh met with each of the big bank CEOs, and said on Monday they "absolutely accept the need for change, they are deeply serious about it, and they understand – at quite a visceral level – that real change is hard and can be painful, and you have to be there for the long haul."