Bankers’ charm offensive starts with a lick of paint — and a name change

Herald Sun March 1, 2018 8:16pm

Jeff Whalley

THE lobby group for the big Aussie banks has dropped the word “bankers” from its title, arguing the change better ­reflects its work.

It comes as the ­industry tries desperately to charm the public following a string of disastrous scandals.

Formerly the Australian Bankers’ Association, the lobby group on Thursday circulated correspondence with a new name.

It is now calling itself the Australian Banking Association — keeping the ABA acronym that it has long used.

A spokesman for the lobby group told the Herald Sun on Thursday that the changes took effect last week.

 “The name change better reflects the work of the association, which is primarily ­focused on banking — how it’s conducted, how it’s regulated, how it contributes to the Australian economy and how it can be improved to best serve the needs of customers,” he said.

The group has also adopted a new logo, axing the ­stylised ABA letters in favour of a new-age design featuring a circle of blue and grey spots (below).

It has also changed ­web address, from bankers.asn.au to ­ausbanking.org.au, as part of the charm offensive.

The association has not revealed how much it paid for the brand overhaul.

The changes come a year after former Queensland premier Anna Bligh was ­appointed chief executive.

A string of scandals have engulfed the major Australian banks in recent years, culminating in the launch last month of a royal commission into the financial services industry.

Among the scandals, the anti-money-laundering watchdog has accused the Commonwealth Bank of breaching reporting rules on more than 53,000 ­potentially suspicious transactions.

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, or Austrac, says the CBA failed to report suspect transactions carried out at its so-called smart ATMs.

National Australia Bank late last year sacked 20 bankers and took action against scores more after a review found 2300 home loans had been issued with inaccurate or incomplete documentation

All big four banks have been accused by the corporate regulator of trying to fix the bank bill swap rate — a critical inter-bank lending rate — to profit at the expense of others.

ANZ and NAB have settled with the regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, paying about $50 million each, while Westpac is fighting it in court.

Financial advisers at the CBA and other lenders have also been accused of providing inappropriate advice to many of their customers.