The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry has announced it will submit an interim report to the Governor-General by 30 September 2018.
This report will identify policy related issues arising from the first four rounds of hearings, which comprised:
- Round 1: Consumer lending practices
- Round 2: Financial advice
- Round 3: Loans to small and medium enterprises
- Round 4: Issues affecting Australians who live in remote and regional communities, which relate to farming finance and interactions between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and financial services entities
The Commission said the interim report will not cover the topics to be addressed in upcoming hearing rounds in relation to Superannuation (Round 5) and Insurance (Round 6), which will take place from 6 August and 10 September respectively.
For risk focused advisers, the Round 6 hearings into insurance-related issues will likely be pivotal, and we will report developments from that round of hearings as they emerge.
The release also noted that the conclusion of the Round 6 hearings into Insurance issues will mark an appropriate time to close the current online public submission facility (click here) and for the Commission to shift its focus from examining past experiences to looking at policy related issues which have been identified during the first six rounds of hearings.
The Commission recommended those wishing to make a submission using the current online public submission form will have until Friday, 28 September 2018 to do so, and that a further hearing round to consider the policy questions arising from the first six rounds will be held in November 2018.
