![\"Ian](\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2014\/07\/Ian_Narev_CBA.jpg\")
<\/a>The Chair of the Senate Economics References Committee inquiry into the advice failures, Senator Mark Bishop<\/strong>, said the apology from Mr Narev was a \u2018welcome development\u2019, but labelled the bank\u2019s overall response as a marginal improvement to what was already in place.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it is shameful,\u201d Senator Bishop told The Australian. \u201cThe (CBA) statement is full of empty words and high sounding ideals, but there is nothing meaningful on the table that wasn\u2019t already there.\u201d<\/p>\n Minister for Finance and Acting Assistant Treasurer, Senator Mathias Cormann<\/strong>, said the CBA Open Advice Review program would offer aggrieved advice clients an opportunity to resolve any outstanding and unresolved issues.<\/p>\n \u201cWe welcome the announcement of the Open Advice Review program by CBA today,\u201d the Senator said.<\/p>\n He added that it was appropriate and necessary that CBA CEO, Ian Narev, had faced questions from the media.<\/p>\n Among the questions put to Mr Narev in yesterday\u2019s press conference was a request for an estimate of the likely compensation costs.<\/p>\n Mr Narev, who earlier in the conference said it was important for the bank to be transparent and open, refused to provide this level of detail, saying the bank would not disclose the amount of compensation it expected to pay out, or how many clients it expected to come forward.<\/p>\n Similarly, Mr Narev would not provide the exact details of how many staff were stood down following the bank\u2019s internal investigation into the failures.<\/p>\n \u201cRegardless of the position, name or title, the organisation looked at every individual\u2019s role in what happened, and took action. That has occurred,\u201d Mr Narev said.<\/p>\n The CEO did, however, acknowledge that further issues may be identified during the Open Advice Review program, and staffing action would be taken, if required.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think that what we will find (as a result of the review program) is that the vast majority of our clients received appropriate advice. If we\u2019re wrong about that, we\u2019ll obviously learn that through the course of our process,\u201d Mr Narev said.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause it\u2019s so open, it\u2019s very possible we\u2019re going to learn about new instances and new things that we may not have known about \u2013 I hope that isn\u2019t the case, but it\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we do, we will address them as they come up in the same spirit of openness,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) issued a short statement following the CBA announcement, saying that any breaches of the law which are identified during the review must be reported to the regulator as soon as practicable, or within 10 business days of the licensee becoming aware of the breach.<\/span><\/p>\n ASIC has previously criticised CBA for being slow to act when breaches were identified. In response, Mr Narev said there was no doubt that some of the group\u2019s historical breaching had been too slow.<\/p>\n \u201cOn occasions ASIC considers our current breach reporting to be too slow sometimes, often because there\u2019s a lot of facts to gather and we\u2019re trying to work out legally what our position is. But I\u2019ve said this directly to the chairman of ASIC that under my watch, my expectation of all our people is that activity that could give rise to the need to report a breach gets surfaced quickly, and openly \u2013 no questions asked. Does that mean I\u2019ll never hear from ASIC again that we were too slow in raising a breach? I doubt it.\u201d<\/p>\n Prior to CBA\u2019s announcement, the Financial Planning Association (FPA) called for all clients impacted to receive full compensation, and offered to put itself forward as a \u2018circuit breaker\u2019.<\/p>\n FPA CEO, Mark Rantall<\/strong>, said the Association was willing to volunteer senior members of its leadership team to serve on a joint committee with CBA to identify all clients impacted and establish fair compensation.<\/p>\n In addition, the FPA called for a summit to restore community trust in financial planning.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would like to see the summit chaired by an eminent, independent figure. We\u2019re calling for all leaders to attend the summit and then sign up to recommendations,\u201d Mr Rantall said. \u201cWe think it\u2019s about time the entire industry regulated itself in co-operation with government, regulators and community stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n Following yesterday\u2019s announcement from the CBA CEO, Mr Rantall said Mr Narev\u2019s apology and offer of further reviews for clients were welcome developments.<\/p>\n \u201cRecent events at CBA have sadly overshadowed the thousands of financial planners who do a great job for their clients every single day. While the specifics are yet to be confirmed, CBA\u2019s adoption of our recommendation of an independent review panel as an escalation point is a positive step in the right direction,\u201d Mr Rantall said.<\/p>\n However, he added that the FPA would be looking closely at the detail behind the CBA program, and the bank\u2019s pledge to increase education standards and training of CBA financial planners.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will be watching as events unfold and are calling for the panel\u2019s terms of reference to establish a truly independent authority, with unreserved power to make decisions in favour of the client. Anything less than this and the panel will simply not deliver the outcomes needed.<\/p>\n \u201cThe FPA will make it a priority to review the action to be taken by CBA to increase education standards. We have proposed that CBA introduces a mandate that each and every one of their financial planners must undertake ethics training, commit to no less than 30 hours of professional development per year and sign up to membership of an approved professional association. These are some of the measures required to put things right and start rebuilding trust between planners and consumers,\u201d Mr Rantall said.<\/p>\n Mr Narev would not comment on whether it would accept the FPA\u2019s offer of assistance to build its independent panel, highlighting instead that there was \u201cstill some thinking to go\u201d on the program:<\/p>\n \u201cOver the next coming weeks, we expect that the final details of the program will be worked out and it will be up and operational in mid-August\u2026\u00a0We\u2019re staffing the team now.”<\/p>\n \u201cPeople have waited a long time for this, and I want to do my best to ensure that the frustration they have felt is not going to be exacerbated by their experience once this is in place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n While Mr Narev explained that the focus of the compensation program would be on those clients who suffered losses through inappropriate investment advice, the CBA later confirmed that clients could also seek an assessment of any insurance advice they received during the period with the possibility of compensation where appropriate.<\/p>\n…the organisation looked at every individual\u2019s role in what happened<\/h6>\n
We think that what we will find is that the vast majority of our clients received appropriate advice<\/h6>\n
![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/riskinfo.com.au\/news\/files\/2014\/02\/Mark-Rantall-24.jpg\")
<\/a>People have waited a long time for this<\/h6>\n