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Background checks for bankers
The Australian 12:00am June 10, 2017
Richard Gluyas
An industry protocol for background checks on bankers has been agreed, making it harder for individuals with a history of misconduct to move from one job to the next undetected.
The protocol will require banks to ask a series of questions about employment history and conduct, including whether a candidate was dismissed or resigned in circumstances relating to misconduct such as selling customer data, compromising security, or breaching bank policies on multiple occasions.
Australian Bankers’ Association chief executive Anna Bligh said the initiative was part of the industry’s transformation agenda. “Banks recognise they need to do more to stop individuals with poor conduct records moving around the banking industry from one job to the next, escaping detection,” Ms Bligh said.
“Each bank has ... different reference checking processes, so this will create more consistency in practices and mean anyone who does the wrong thing has nowhere to hide.”
Banks already do checks for police records, but this can overlook types of misconduct that breach bank policy or can cause harm to customers.
Background checks under the protocol can go back five years. It will be implemented no later than July 1 by major banks and October 1 by non-majors.
