<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/sunland-group">Sunland Group</a> has officially lodged plans for its first Gold Coast apartment project since the departure of the Abedian family from the company three years ago, unveiling a new high-rise proposal for a prominent Broadbeach corner site on Old Burleigh Road.

The application was submitted by an entity directed by Tom Jamieson, stepson of longtime Sunland leader Soheil Abedian, and Riaz Rezvanipour, brother-in-law of Sahba Abedian, Soheil’s son.

Sunland acquired the 1,283 sqm site on the corner of Old Burleigh Road and Armrick Avenue for $9.5 million late last year and is now seeking approval for a <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/99-101-old-burleigh-road-broadbeach-qld-4218">42-storey tower with 81 apartments</a>.

<img alt="First look: Sunland Group returns to Broadbeach with new Old Burleigh Road tower plans" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="fea2946d-90ee-4cfc-babe-2a8ad5db2cb6" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/pers.png?VersionId=BV0fihJw31nDIQ8ozY_h3GbS8mxDyhnm" />

Designed by <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/architects/contreras-earl-architecture">Contreras Earl Architecture</a>, the proposed tower at 99-101 Old Burleigh Road would deliver a predominantly larger-format apartment mix aimed at the owner-occupier market. Plans include 17 two-bedroom apartments, 55 three-bedroom apartments, and nine four-bedroom residences across 35 residential levels.

The development also incorporates three basement levels, four podium parking levels, two levels of communal recreation facilities, and rooftop plant and equipment. A total of 189 car spaces are proposed, significantly exceeding the 90 spaces required under the planning scheme.

The architecture adopts a sculpted, curvilinear form, with deep wraparound balconies and integrated landscaping intended to soften the tower’s vertical expression. The planning report states the building’s “slender footprint/form provides a complimentary yet varied built form within the local streetscape” and contributes to “a varied, yet ordered skyline.”

Contreras Earl noted in its Architectural Statement that from the early stages, the project addressed a fundamental challenge: how to accommodate the required residential yield while avoiding the conventional model of a tower sitting on a rigid, fully resolved parking podium.

“The most direct response would have been to consolidate parking into a singular, flat podium and extrude a repetitive tower above,” the statement said. “While efficient, this approach would result in a consolidated built form with limited engagement with the surrounding landscape and public realm.”

Instead, the conventional podium model was “deliberately rejected”. The architects described the base of the building as “a landscaped architectural condition where structure, planting and circulation are integrated”.

“Rather than presenting a continuous built mass, the base of the building is articulated through a series of concrete planter elements that organise the podium into a fragmented system,” the statement said. “This approach reduces the perceived bulk of the lower levels while establishing a more permeable interface with the streetscape and adjacent open space.”

<img alt="Sunland" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="923fad8d-c960-4527-8fbe-975cf1ddf88d" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-25%20at%2010.32.03%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=pngwb0hYOIUpq9vDw6F2EsOiVuHF3DiX" />

&nbsp;

The site sits within the High Density Residential Zone and inside the City of Gold Coast’s unrestricted “HX” building height area, where the planning framework anticipates intensified residential development tied to the expanding light rail corridor. The planning report notes the area is undergoing “transition toward more intense development forms” given its proximity to Broadbeach, Surfers Paradise, and high-frequency public transport infrastructure.

Positioned directly opposite Broadbeach Park and within walking distance of Florida Gardens light rail station, the development would sit among a rapidly evolving stretch of Old Burleigh Road that has become one of the Gold Coast’s most active apartment development corridors.

The application joins a growing pipeline of luxury residential projects reshaping Broadbeach, including nearby developments by 5Point Projects, Polycell, and Graya.

The planning report argues the project contributes toward the Gold Coast’s long-term housing targets under the South East Queensland Regional Plan, which forecasts the need for more than 100,000 additional high-rise dwellings across the city by 2046.

<section data-scroll-anchor="false" data-testid="conversation-turn-4" data-turn="assistant" data-turn-id="request-WEB:84a2af5e-d7cf-4ddf-922a-f4d44d6c6caa-1" data-turn-id-container="request-WEB:84a2af5e-d7cf-4ddf-922a-f4d44d6c6caa-1" dir="auto">
The Abedian family departed Sunland Group in late 2023, ending a four-decade association with the company, and subsequently established the private development firm Abedian &amp; Co. The group is currently delivering <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/greenmount-residences-cnr-hill-street-and-marine-parade-coolangatta-qld-4225">Greenmount Residences</a> at Rainbow Bay and recently launched <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/18-mary-avenue-14-18-mary-avenue-broadbeach-qld-4218">18 Mary Avenue</a> in Broadbeach.
</section>

Joel Robinson

First look: Sunland Group returns to Broadbeach new apartment market with new Old Burleigh Road tower plans

The Minns Labor Government has established the new Bays West Delivery Authority to lead the development&nbsp;of the Bays West Precinct and Blackwattle Bay Precinct.&nbsp;

The Authority is charged with creating Sydney’s newest precinct, a thriving, connected, sustainable hub with White Bay Power Station as its cultural heart. Its vision is to build on the area’s natural, cultural and industrial history to shape a vibrant new neighbourhood.

The precinct will deliver up to 8,500 well-located homes, including a minimum of 10 per cent affordable and essential worker homes. Combine new housing with public open space, opening public access to the waterfront for the first time in more than 100 years, while retaining important deep-water facilities to support Sydney’s working harbour.

Located just minutes from the Sydney CBD and connected to a world-class metro, ferry, walking and cycling links, the Bays West precinct will rebalance housing growth towards well-serviced inner-city locations and help tackle the state’s housing crisis.

The Bays West Delivery Authority,&nbsp;an agency of the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure, will report to the NSW Minister for Lands and Property who already has oversight of major precinct renewal projects including at Blackwattle Bay and Barangaroo.

As part of the broader Bays West transformation, the Minns Government recently announced that a proposal from Lendlease to redevelop part of the Bays West Precinct has progressed to Stage 2 of the NSW Government’s unsolicited proposals process.

<img alt="Sydney" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="2ed71eb9-d8e8-4fa7-b9d1-de4531dcf2f3" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/Screenshot%202026-05-25%20at%209.42.31%E2%80%AFAM.png?VersionId=IDryFIbped9SNDg72LEN_EecvhUsOPvp" />

The Minns Labor Government has also confirmed the Bays West precinct will have a new suburb name. This will be the first major suburb built in close proximity to Sydney’s CBD in decades and will encompass the area currently being referred to as Bays West, including Glebe Island and the White Bay Power Station. Served by a new Metro station just five minutes from the CBD, it will become one of the most populous suburbs in the Inner West and one of Sydney’s premier cultural destinations.

An early works program is taking shape, which&nbsp;includes the first stages of an international design competition.&nbsp;

The aim of the Bays West&nbsp;International&nbsp;Design Competition is to&nbsp;ensure design excellence is embedded in the project from the start. The competition will deliver an&nbsp;urban framework that defines the character, ambition and long-term identity of&nbsp;this&nbsp;former industrial precinct as it transitions to a vibrant, inclusive and sustainable residential&nbsp;neighbourhood.

The competition will be led by the Bays West Delivery Authority in partnership with Government Architect NSW.&nbsp;

It will launch with an invitation for a global Expressions of Interest, before moving to an invitation-only stage that will be assessed by a panel that&nbsp;will provide advice to Cabinet who will select a winner.

Premier of NSW, Chris Minns said the establishment of the new Authority is the first step in transforming the Bays West precinct into a vibrant, livable suburb minutes from the Sydney CBD and two stops from Hunter St Station on the Metro West line.

“The Authority will deliver well-located homes close to the heart of the city and integrate the new precinct with Blackwattle Bay and the new Sydney Fish Market.

“This is a generational opportunity to build a new suburb on the city’s edge and open the harbour foreshore to the public for the first time in a century.”&nbsp;

Minister for Lands and Property Steve Kamper said the new Bays West Delivery Authority established by the Minns Government will turbocharge the development of Sydney’s newest suburb.

“The Authority is working at a record pace to deliver an international design competition, planning pathways and a financial model so that this development benefits Sydney with well-designed homes in a central location, close to public transport, jobs, entertainment and essential services.

“If we want Sydney to stay liveable and affordable, we need to be bold about using underutilised government-owned land to deliver homes for the future while making sure essential working harbour functions can be accommodated.”

Bays West Delivery Authority established to "turbocharge" Sydney’s newest suburb

Around 400 additional homes could be built at Southwark Grounds on Port Road, lifting total site capacity from 1300 to around 1700 dwellings.

A recently approved code amendment would allow apartment towers of up to 14 storeys in some areas of Renewal SA’s redevelopment of the former West End Brewery.

Renewal SA Acting Chief Executive Shane Wingard said he welcomed the code amendment, with the increase in heights and homes making a positive impact on the supply of high-quality, well-connected housing close to the city.

“By going higher across some parts of Southwark Grounds, we are adding a substantial number of very well-located homes with little impact on project delivery time or planned open space,” Mr Wingard said.

Since the project officially launched in 2025, Mr Wingard said more than 12,000 enquiries had been received about living at Southwark Grounds.

“The very strong early interest we’ve seen since homes were first released in the precinct reinforces our plans to create more housing opportunities,” he said.

The Southwark Grounds code amendment was launched in December last year, with community engagement undertaken over five weeks from January.

It proposed increasing maximum building heights from eight to 14 storeys on the eastern section of Southwark Grounds, and to 12 storeys across the remainder of the site, with minimum building heights ranging from two to four storeys.

The code amendment was implemented through an Early Commencement policy in late January, allowing developers to quickly explore the viability of increased height and housing yield while other planning processes continue.

One of the first developers delivering apartment sites have already finalised redesigns to increase the number of apartments following the code amendment.

Samaras’ development adjacent to the future Colonel Light Park is now planning to deliver 125 apartments across 11 storeys, significantly greater than original plans of around 50 apartments across four storeys.

The developer is also exploring the potential for additional affordable housing outcomes.

Most of the apartments at Southwark Grounds will be delivered within a master-planned precinct on a large parcel of land on the eastern portion of the site, covering around two-thirds of its 8.4 hectares.

Wingard said detailed precinct planning over the coming months may identify further opportunities to increase yield further that could see total apartment numbers at Southwark Grounds, exceed this number.

Affordable homes at Southwark Grounds will also see a net increase, with Renewal SA maintaining its commitment to a minimum of 20 per cent affordable housing across the development.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Civil works have begun across the site, with construction under way on the first new roads surrounding a townhouse precinct in the south‑west corner of Southwark Grounds. This includes Renewal SA’s 17 Founder’s Row homes, which are on track for completion by Christmas.

“We expect to have people living at Southwark Grounds by the end of the year, so delivering roads and public spaces for those residents is among our highest priorities.”

Construction of 40 townhouses off Anderson Street, known as West Village and being delivered by Contour, is forecast to begin in mid‑2026. Kolabb’s Anderson Lane development will follow shortly after, delivering a further 26 townhouses.

Southwark Grounds is a state government‑led urban renewal project now set to deliver around 1,700 homes over the next decade.

Homes will be supported by a supermarket, a range of retail and hospitality offerings anchored by a revitalised Walkerville Brew Tower, a childcare centre, car parking and well‑connected public spaces.

400 new homes planned for Adelaide's former West End Brewery site

Brisbane developer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/developers/cavcorp">Cavcorp</a> has lodged plans for a new mixed-use residential development at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/55-wyandra-street-teneriffe-qld-4005">55 Wyandra Street</a>, Teneriffe, anchored by an 85-metre public laneway designed to reconnect the suburb’s riverfront with the Gasworks precinct.

The buildings, known as Teneriffe House and Teneriffe Lane, would replace the existing Queensland Cotton head office site with a 15-storey residential tower transitioning to eight storeys toward Helen Street. The project has been designed by Plazibat Architects and lodged as a code assessable development application for 93 apartments across a 3,401 sqm mixed-use site within the Newstead and Teneriffe Waterfront neighbourhood plan.

Central to the scheme is the transformation of an existing service easement into a publicly accessible cross-block connection linking Wyandra and Helen Streets. Cavcorp says the new laneway will act as both a pedestrian shortcut and a landscaped civic space between the Teneriffe Riverwalk, ferry terminal, and Gasworks precinct.

<img alt="First Look: Cavcorp unveils Teneriffe House and Teneriffe Lane plans for landmark wellness tower in Teneriffe" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="26e7f058-b065-4de8-b13d-a2b8cb64dfcc" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/bldg.png?VersionId=sELS0ZKYi361oYipUa1BIKfe_.DLZoFV" />

“The revised proposal delivers a legacy public-realm cross-block link, permanently secured for community use, transforming an existing private easement into a safe, high-quality pedestrian connection between the Teneriffe heritage riverwalk and the Gasworks–Long Island precinct,” the planning report states.

The laneway will sit beneath a large subtropical loggia integrated into the podium levels of the development. The design incorporates deep landscaping, water gardens, lobby spaces, business lounges, and ground-floor apartments to create what Cavcorp describes as a climate-responsive “urban verandah.”

The tower itself has been designed as a slender form with recessed floorplates and curved translucent corners inspired by contemporary Japanese architecture. The building height aligns with the Commercial Road precinct controls, which permit towers up to 15 storeys within proximity to Longland Street.

<img alt="First Look: Cavcorp unveils Teneriffe House and Teneriffe Lane plans for landmark wellness tower in Teneriffe" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="a8a17d40-43b6-4718-b3fd-67676fcbb485" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/pers%202_1.png?VersionId=i3VwDtp5AmL_8InW7w4qRbDFEpb744Jt" />

The project will comprise a mix of larger-format apartments aimed at owner-occupiers, downsizers, and families. The proposed apartment mix includes 11 loggia apartments across the lower levels, 50 four-bedroom Sky-Terrace apartments from levels three to seven, and 32 Sky-Pool Homes occupying the upper tower levels. The Sky-Pool Homes will feature private thermal plunge pools integrated into oversized balconies.

According to the application, the apartments are intended to reinterpret the scale and character of Teneriffe’s woolstore conversions and Queensland homes within a vertical residential format.

“The sky-pool homes build on Cavcorp’s previous projects and introduce a distinct apartment typology to Teneriffe, informed by both local and international precedent and responding to an identified market demand for enhanced safety, space and amenity,” the planning submission notes.

A major focus of the proposal is its five-level wellness and lifestyle offering, extending from the basement through to the rooftop.

Amenities proposed include a rooftop Swim &amp; Racquet Club with a 25-metre Olympic lap pool and tennis court, coworking spaces and libraries, golf simulators, wine storage, concierge facilities, business lounges, pet wash areas, and rooftop longevity-focused wellness spaces with spas, outdoor fitness zones, and landscaped terraces.

<img alt="First Look: Cavcorp unveils Teneriffe House and Teneriffe Lane plans for landmark wellness tower in Teneriffe" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="944b352c-49b9-4247-a4c6-5967b4b69fda" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/amenity.png?VersionId=Ed_qKjAtMwFT.5gfl3jiA9QwdWxSMsaX" />

All parking will be concealed within basement levels accessed from Wyandra and Helen Streets. Cavcorp says the deep-basement engineering approach allows the entire ground plane to prioritise landscaping, pedestrian movement, and active frontage rather than vehicle infrastructure.

The development continues Cavcorp’s concentration in Newstead and Teneriffe, where the Brisbane developer has delivered a number of apartment projects including Lucent, Le Bain, and Luminare, as well as the Long Island Wellness Precinct nearby. Several of those projects have received national design and architecture awards, including recognition under Brisbane’s “Buildings that Breathe” program.

Cavcorp unveils wellness-focused Teneriffe House and Teneriffe Lane apartment buildings

Focus Group Investments has lodged plans for a new apartment development at <a href="https://www.apartments.com.au/new-apartments/64-70-hanover-street-fitzroy-vic-3065">64–70 Hanover Street</a> in Fitzroy, seeking to utilise the Victorian Government’s recently introduced Great Design Fast Track pathway to accelerate approvals for the project.

The proposal is among the latest developments to emerge through the state-led initiative, which was established to fast-track well-designed residential projects in activity centres and transport-connected inner-city locations. The pathway allows qualifying developments that meet elevated design and housing benchmarks to bypass traditional council planning timeframes and instead be assessed directly by the Department of Transport and Planning.

Designed by SJB, the development will comprise a mix of apartments above activated lower levels, with a strong focus on architectural articulation, landscaping, and communal amenity. The design response seeks to balance the industrial character of Richmond’s former warehouse precincts with a more contemporary residential form.

<img alt="First look: Focus Group Investments taps Victoria’s Great Design Fast Track for Richmond apartments" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="abea51cc-d85b-479e-9aef-a589f3b37ca7" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/ground.png?VersionId=e1Kf8EyPWwyiVumtqQ4rM5S4GpOR3CCz" />

Proposed are 63 new dwellings, a wide ranging mix of studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments, and townhouses and duplexes. They will be spread across a part-three, part-eight storey building.

The Planning and Urban Context Report by Tract says the development is of an "exemplary architectural standard" and has been carefully crafted by SJB Architects.

"Dwellings&nbsp;will benefit from excellent access to natural light, cross-ventilation opportunities and extensive communal space," the report noted.

The architectural material highlights the project’s integration of landscaped elements and communal spaces throughout the building. The proposal also incorporates sustainability initiatives aligned with the Victorian Government’s push for higher-performing apartment developments under the fast-track program.

The Great Design Fast Track was unveiled by the Victorian Government in 2024 as part of a broader housing supply strategy aimed at accelerating the delivery of new homes. Projects assessed through the pathway must demonstrate high-quality architecture, sustainability outcomes, and housing diversity while being located close to public transport and existing infrastructure.

<img alt="First look: Focus Group Investments taps Victoria’s Great Design Fast Track for Richmond apartments" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="afdbe834-8dc4-4a77-a943-ba07bc927348" src="https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/www.urban.com.au/s3fs-public/inline-images/site_11.png?VersionId=0J657j.TaChAZfp93wqJYBTqSsnREJx2" />

Focus Group, founder and led by Paul De Lutiis, is increasingly active across Melbourne’s inner suburbs, targeting well-connected urban renewal locations suited to medium and higher-density residential development. The Fitzroy proposal continues that strategy, leveraging the area’s strong transport links, established retail amenity, and proximity to the CBD.

Fitzroy has been one of the most popular spots for developers and buyers in recent years. The likes of PACE Development Group, SMA Projects, Crema Group and Chapter Group, currently selling projects in the suburb.

First look: Focus Group Investments taps Victoria’s Great Design Fast Track for Fitzroy apartments

Royal Commission

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EXPERT OBSERVER 
<div id="post-body-6541198538703456871" class="post-body entry-content">
<div>What a win it's been for the major banks last week.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Hearteningly there's been sensible commentary aplenty about the misguided recommendations on the structure of mortgage broking, which don't make any sense with a 'real world' hat on. </div>
 <div class="separator"><img src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pL1yB52iNFg/XF1iUBBmg3I/AAAAAAAAuWU/6sYwVipdspstnDR_2fu2Cp6ffJpVlmJcQCLcBGAs/s640/CBA2.jpg" width="640" height="364" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1403"></div>
 <div>
As prominent industry stalwart John Manciameli has pointed out, imagine the outcry when banks raise mortgage rates off the cuff by 50 basis points on 'funding cost pressures' (or whatever) and customers have to pay another $5,000 fee to refinance out of their loan (leaving the borrower paying $10,000 just to get in and out of the deal). Just one of a thousand potentially daft scenarios. 
</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Everyone agrees that there should be a 'best interest' imperative for mortgage brokers. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>But commission structures should be left alone, and the scenarios being discussed would just load even more power into the four major banks. If broking ain't broke...</div>
<div> </div>
<div>PETE WARGENT is the co-founder of AllenWargent property buyers (London, Sydney) and a best-selling author and <a href="https://petewargent.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blogger</a>.</div>
</div>
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pwargent-M4siyDbqQY

Banks flying high; mortgage brokers thrashed: Pete Wargent

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Even in the cool of the darkened cinema over the summer break, bankers could not escape their deserved opprobrium. The plot of the movie, Mary Poppins Returns was premised on the pending mortgagee repossession of the London family home of Annabel, John and Georgie at 17 Cherry Lane.
The new boss of the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, played by Colin Firth, ruthlessly sought to fraudulently repossess the grand terrace.
The unflappable, magical, but blunt Mary Poppins and the three children saved the house from foreclosure, and their hapless father from humiliation, with the bank returning to the honourable banking practices of the past.
Perhaps the Australian banking royal commissioner, Kenneth Hayne got to take his grandchildren to the Poppins sequel, although Hayne was officially spending the Christmas break finalising his much anticipated report. 
His exposure of recent boom time fraud and exploitation of borrowers by the big banks had already seen him deliver far more than the government and the public bargained for during the scandal-ridden hearings. The hearings proved we can’t place much trust in our regulators, commission-empowered advisors, the banking ombudsmen, the costly legal system to deliver justice and indeed the government to do their job.
Hayne's final report will have far reaching consequences, without any spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down. Although the banks could benefit from the grenade thrown into the mortgage broking industry.
Tom Ravlic, the author of ‘Vulture City: How Banks Got Rich on Swindle’ (Wilkinson Publishing) due for publication later this year, wrote in The Telegraph last month that unquestioning, uncritical blind trust can no longer be afforded to lending institutions.
But I'd suggest the borrowing public need to take responsibility too. No one should care more about your money than you. I'd argue consumers need to spruce up their knowledge of financial products and the legal consequences of decisions. We know that most Australians spend more time on their footy tips than financial affairs.
The bank's own demonstrable swing towards more responsible lending practices in 2018 was overdue, but went too far. Common sense lending would anticipate property purchases typically trigger a more spartan lifestyle by the buyer than them continuing their spending habits from before their property purchase. 
But last year we saw these discretionary lifestyle costs - such as uber eating habits, Netflix and even any weekend betting slips - included in the calculations by over reactionary lenders in their ultra cautious loan application reviews that severely reduced loan capacity. 
We have a buyer's market, except they can't all buy what they previously thought they could afford because the bank's reaction to the exposure of some reckless lending exposed by the royal commission.
A couple with one child and a dual income of $120,000 could borrow $800,000 during the boom. Fast forward and the same couple, now with only mild wages growth to a $129,000 combined salary along with a second child, can only borrow $680,000 because of much stricter bank lending.
Their capacity to buy has gone backwards, and so too did prices, not surprisingly. This adjustment to price and capacity hit the market hard last year, but 2019 is likely to see buyers and vendors alike, become more accepting of the new landscape.
And there's already talk among buyers' agents that securing a bank loan has become easier this year.
This first appeared in The Daily Telegraph.
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jchancellor-FAypfDUnLy

Mary Poppins and the banking royal commission

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EXPERT OBSERVER
Labor's Bowen and Shorten had insisted they'd adopt all of the Royal Commission recommendations sight unseen - a pretty much ill-advised idea when you think about it - ostensibly because they wanted to be seen as 'tough' on the banks, but just as likely to put pressure on the government to clamp down on lending and credit further.
What the ALP think-tanks hadn't foreseen is the major banks getting off relatively lightly and some cataclysmic reforms recommended for the mortgage broking industry, especially in terms of commission structure.
The initial reaction from Bowen, on his Twitter feed, seemed to misread the mood:
<div>
<div class="separator"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dsgb5a4Mt4Y/XFyPFXaKgdI/AAAAAAAAuWI/vgdeNgBxAHM9NNI2GOoMwVEAPG3HpLHdQCLcBGAs/s1600/CB.jpg"><img src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dsgb5a4Mt4Y/XFyPFXaKgdI/AAAAAAAAuWI/vgdeNgBxAHM9NNI2GOoMwVEAPG3HpLHdQCLcBGAs/s640/CB.jpg" width="640" height="122" data-original-height="138" data-original-width="721"></a></div>
<div class="separator"> </div>
<div class="separator">The Coalition (and apparently even the Reserve Bank Governor) believe that ramming through such wholesale changes to the broking industry warrant caution, since they'd reduce competition in the market, line the pockets of the 4 major banks as they carve up more market share, and decimate the mortgage broking industry, putting thousands of brokers out of business.</div>
</div>
<div>
 My view is that overwhelmingly brokers add value to consumers, and help borrowers to navigate the maze. Some of the information put forward by the banks during the hearings was misguided at best, misleading at worst. Although naturally a 'best interest' test must be enforced, the existing model is superior to a potential fee-for-service alternative.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>It'll be interesting to see whether Bowen is so in favour of implementing all recommendations now.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>If I was a betting man I'd say the ALP will demur on this point, or give a waffling or non-committal answer...else they'll face instantly losing the votes of 16,000 brokers. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Of course, they might well decide that they don't need those votes anyway given signals from internal polling, but let's see what their response is, if any. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>PETE WARGENT is the co-founder of AllenWargent property buyers (London, Sydney) and a best-selling author and <a href="https://petewargent.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blogger</a>.</div>
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Royal Commission backfires on mortgage broker reform: Pete Wargent

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EXPERT OBSERVER 
After today’s Banking Royal Commission’s final report it may seem as if it is impossible for banks to regain trust.
But it is possible, as I know from working with prominent British and European banks after the global financial crisis, taking part in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330738218_Restoring_Trust_in_the_Financial_Services_Sector_A_report_published_by_the_Industry_and_Parliament_Trust_of_the_UK_Parliament_Notes_from_the_Policy_Event_Meeting_'Restoring_Trust_in_the_Financial_Serv" target="_blank">policy meetings</a> at the UK parliament about how to restore trust, and researching <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330737895_The_Recovery_of_Trust_Case_studies_of_organisational_failures_and_trust_repair" target="_blank">cases of trust repair</a>.
Here are the six most important questions our banks will need to answer for their stakeholders to regain trust:
<h2>1. What went wrong and why?</h2>
When a major breach of trust occurs, it is often unclear what caused it and who is responsible. It is essential to get a shared understanding of what happened.
This can be arrived at through inquiries and investigations which are most effective when timely, comprehensive, and independently conducted.
The royal commission is itself such an inquiry and will help, as did the <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/bankingstandards" target="_blank">Parliamentary Commission into Banking Standards</a> in the UK.
But banks also need to conduct their own investigations and explain what happened to their customers and shareholders.
The paradox is that such a “warts and all” investigation is likely to lower trust in the short term as the true extent and scale of the misconduct is revealed.
But without it, it is hard to “draw a line in the sand” and move on.
<h2>2. Have the banks learned their lesson and made amends?</h2>
Social rituals and symbolic acts - such as apologies, fines, punishments and compensation - play an important role in repairing trust.
They signal that the organisation understands its conduct was wrong and has “paid a price”. They can help resolve negative emotions and restore a sense of equity and justice in the relationship between the organisation and its stakeholders.
Apologies are usually more effective when combined with substantive actions - such as offering compensation - to avoid appearing as “cheap talk”. They are also more effective when offered voluntarily. Unfortunately, Australia’s banks have often been reactive, issuing public apologies only after damning evidence has emerged, and being slow to offer compensation.
<h2>3. Can future violations be prevented?</h2>
Given what’s been revealed at the royal commission, stakeholders want to see evidence that the banks have “got their house in order” and won’t let it happen again. This will require <a href="https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/designing-trustworthy-organizations/">comprehensive reforms</a> to their strategies, cultures, incentive schemes, and formal control mechanisms (such as revised accountability and governance structures, procedures, rules, policies, and codes of conduct).
<h2>4. Is trustworthiness embedded in their DNA?</h2>
Banks are typically good at formal controls. The more difficult task is bringing about cultural change. Yet it is absolutely necessary, because cultural values and norms powerfully influence behaviour.
Ensuring that trust-inducing values and decision making are role modelled and embodied by leaders and managers and embedded in everyday routines will require the banks to challenge firmly held beliefs and assumptions that lead them to prioritise short-term profits and returns to shareholders over a more balanced multi-stakeholder perspective grounded in a broader purpose and responsibility to society.
<h2>5. Do others believe the banks are trustworthy?</h2>
Transparently sharing information about their conduct over time (through for example corporate reporting and monitoring) and having it verified by credible independent third parties (such as auditors) can help restore and maintain trust. It signals the bank has “nothing to hide”.
In the UK, the <a href="https://www.bankingstandardsboard.org.uk/" target="_blank">Banking Standards Board</a> was established to monitor and report on bank conduct and culture.
Its latest report found <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/nov/13/overhaul-of-uk-poor-banking-culture-is-slow-admits-standards-chair" target="_blank">slow progress had been made on fixing the UK’s poor banking culture</a> five years on from the UK’s equivalent of our royal commission. That is testament to how hard it is to achieve real cultural change.
<h2>6. Is the external governance now effective?</h2>
Stakeholders need to know that reforms to the governance and regulation of the industry will reward trustworthy conduct, identify and punish misconduct, and root out systematic problems.
This is important for upholding minimal standards of conduct over time.
The banks will have to convincingly answer each of these questions in order to regain trust. Leaving any one of them unaddressed means it might not happen.
The banks will find the task neither quick nor easy.
It will require time, money, effort, political will, coordination amongst a range of actors and skilled change management, among other things.
Given banks are an essential pillar of a well-functioning society, it is important that they rise to the challenge.
Today’s report will provide an opportunity.

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/nicole-gillespie-389397" target="_blank">Nicole Gillespie</a>, Professor of Management; KPMG Chair in Organizational Trust, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-queensland-805" target="_blank">The University of Queensland</a>
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/six-questions-our-banks-need-to-answer-to-regain-trust-110715" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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jrobinson-rf4aSBido9

Six questions our banks need to answer to regain our trust

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GUEST OBSERVATION
The government is acting on all 76 of Justice Hayne’s recommendations.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was glossing over history when he said the <a href="https://financialservices.royalcommission.gov.au/Pages/reports.aspx" target="_blank">final report of the banking royal commission</a> “endorsed many of the themes and individual reforms the government is currently pursuing”.
In fact, on coming to office in late 2013, his government – through Finance Minister Mathias Cormann - <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/how-the-coalition-ran-interference-for-the-banks-20180425-p4zbjz" target="_blank">did the opposite</a>.
Instead of extending provisions in the law that financial service providers act in the “best interests” of their clients, it tried to remove them, pressing Senate independents to have them excised from the at-the-time unimplemented Future of Financial Advice Act.
It argued there would be greater certainty if advisers were merely required to fulfill a number of specific requirements rather than to act in the overall best interests of their clients.
It’s a checklist approach <a href="https://financialservices.royalcommission.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank">Justice Kenneth Hayne dismisses</a>, saying it has encouraged advisers to pursue a “good enough” outcome “instead of the best interests of the relevant clients or members”.
“The more complicated the law, the harder it is to see unifying and informing principles and purposes,” the report says. “Exceptions and limitations encourage literal application and focusing on boundary‑marking and categorisation.”
What’s important is that the intent of the law is met, “rather than merely its terms complied with”.
Hayne wants laws rewritten to draw explicit connections between their requirements and what they are trying to achieve.
Such rewriting will make it clear that “exceptions and carve outs like grandfathered commissions constitute a departure from applying the relevant fundamental norm”.
The Coalition fought hard to allow financial advisers to continue to receive some grandfathered commissions – commissions their customers were signed up to before laws outlawing commissions came into place.
Hayne wants all grandfathering to go “as soon as is reasonably practicable”.
Frydenberg <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/publication/p2019-fsrc-response/" target="_blank">has agreed</a>. From January 1, 2021 all grandfathering will go, and any previously grandfathered payments to advisers from clients accounts will be handed back to clients where they can reasonably be identified.
Ongoing fees taken from clients accounts will need to be specifically reauthorised each year, a proposal neither the Coalition nor Labor put forward in negotiations over the Future of Financial Advice Act, settling on reauthorisation every two years in order to avoid paperwork.
Frydenberg has accepted the recommendation, without a start date.
Hayne wants all commissions to mortgage brokers banned so that the borrower, not the lender, pays the broker a fee.
The Royal Commissioner wants the changes made over a period of two or three years, first by banning so-called annual trailing commissions that last the length of the loans, and then by banning upfront commissions.
Frydenberg will ban trailing commissions from July 1, 2020 and will ask the Council of Financial Regulators and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to review in three years’ time the implications of moving to full consumer-pays.
Hayne’s point is that buyers of financial products of all types often assume the person standing between them and the provider is acting in their interests. They need not be when they are being paid by the provider.
<blockquote>
1. The interests of client, intermediary and provider of a product or service are not only different, they are opposed.
2. An intermediary who seeks to stand in “more than one canoe” cannot. Duty (to client) and (self) interest pull in opposite directions.
</blockquote>
Hayne’s three key themes are now government policy:
<ul>
<li>
no conflicted remuneration
</li>
<li>
no exemptions, including grandfathered arrangements
</li>
<li>
explicit consent for payments.
</li>
</ul>
Financial industry laws and regulations will apply more broadly than they have. Funeral insurance will no longer be exempted. Car dealers will face a limit on the fee they can get for selling add-on insurance.
And retailers won’t be able to sell add-on insurance at the same time as the products themselves. Frydenberg said that people buying mobile phones were being sold screen insurance that cost more than the replacement of the screens.
“Hawking”, unsolicited phone calls and pitches for superannuation and insurance and other products, will be prohibited. Lenders to farmers won’t be able to charge high default interest rates during droughts or when there is no realistic prospect of recovering the money.
Banks won’t be able to offer overdrafts on basic accounts without the formal approval of the accounts’ owners, they won’t be able to charge dishonour fees on basic accounts, they will have to value agricultural land used as security for loans independently of the people who decide whether to grant the loans.
Superannuation fund trustees won’t be able to work for other parts of the conglomerate that owns the fund giving them a conflict of interest, and trustees and directors will be subject to civil penalties if they fail to act in the fund members’ best interests.
Each Australian will be defaulted into (“stapled” onto) only one superannuation account once at the beginning of their working life instead of into several as they change jobs as is required by awards and industrial agreements. The <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/superannuation" target="_blank">Productivity Commission estimated</a> these multiple accounts cost super fund members A$10 billion per year in unnecessary fees.
Australia’s much-criticised “twin peaks” model of regulation shared between the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, will stay, although they will be subject to a new independent oversight body that will report on their performance every two years. They will also need to prepare and maintain a joint co-operation memorandum.
In any investigation ASIC will have to have as a starting point the question of whether a case should be taken to court. Infringement notices should mainly be reserved for administrative rather than deliberate failings.
Hayne says too often, banks and other financial services entities that broke the law were not properly held to account.
<blockquote>
Misconduct will be deterred only if entities believe that misconduct will be detected, denounced and justly punished.
Misconduct, especially misconduct that yields profit, is not deterred by requiring those who are found to have done wrong to do no more than pay compensation. And wrongdoing is not denounced by issuing a media release.
</blockquote>
He says in almost every case, bad conduct was driven not only by the firm’s pursuit of profit but also by individuals’ pursuit of gain.
<blockquote>
Providing a service to customers was relegated to second place. Sales became all important. Those who dealt with customers became sellers. And the confusion of roles extended well beyond front line service staff. Advisers became sellers and sellers became advisers.
Rewarding misconduct is wrong. Yet incentive, bonus and commission schemes throughout the financial services industry have measured sales and profit, but not compliance with the law and proper standards. Rewards have been paid regardless of whether the person rewarded should have done what they did.
</blockquote>
Frydenberg says he is taking action on all 76 recommendations.
He’ll set up an industry-funded compensation scheme able to payout over misconduct over the past ten years.
And 24 specific acts of misconduct have been referred to authorities, covering every big financial firm other than Westpac.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/au/team#peter-martin" target="_blank">Peter Martin</a>, Section Editor, Business and Economy, <a href="http://www.theconversation.com/" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/banking-royal-commission-no-commissions-no-exemptions-no-fees-without-permission-hayne-gets-the-government-to-do-a-u-turn-110974" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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j.ballantyne1990-6AQqhLzZaK

Banking Royal Commission: no commissions, no exemptions, no fees without permission, Hayne gets the government to do a U-turn

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EXPERT OBSERVER
The long-awaited report from the banking royal commission proves that even within regulated environments lawlessness can be rife. 
The multitude of examples of potentially criminal activity within the financial services sector was a sign of what can happen when money becomes more important than client outcomes. 
If this is what happens in a regulated industry, imagine the situation in the property investment advice sector where spruikers can ruin people’s financial lives without much chance of prosecution because it is an unregulated environment? 
The report suggests that many in the financial services sector were motivated by greed rather than acting in their client’s best interests, however, such a blanket statement does a disservice to the majority of honest employees working in the industry. 
Mortgage brokers, for example, create much-needed competition and deserve to be paid for their professional service, so we’re pleased that the Federal Government has questioned the recommendation that commissions be paid by consumers rather than banks – who are the ones who can clearly afford it the most.
The 2018 PIPA Investor Sentiment Survey found that more than 75 per cent of investors secured their last investment loan through a mortgage broker, up slightly from the year before, and dramatically more than the 2015 number of 65 per cent. 
About 86 per cent intend to finance their next investment loan through a broker, according to the survey. 
I hope the report’s release would bring an end to the over-the- top credit restrictions that had been in play for more than three years, which were starting to have a negative impact on the national economy. 
Solid borrowers, who should have no problem securing finance under normal credit conditions, are getting knocked back for silly reasons such as spending $50 on Uber Eats on a Friday night. 
With property prices continuing to fall in our two biggest capital cities, inflation stubbornly low, and wages flat-lining, lenders need to release their strangle-hold on credit so our economy can get moving again.
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The health of the banking sector is vital for our economy, but so too is the property market, which is worth $7.5 trillion compared to superannuation on $2.7 trillion, according to CoreLogic. 
It’s time for the Federal Government to get serious about protecting consumers from unscrupulous spruikers who pretend to give property investment ‘advice’, but all they’re really do is lining their own back pockets without having to worry about breaking the law – because there isn’t one.
According to the 2018 PIPA Investor Sentiment Survey, an overwhelming majority of respondents (95 per cent) believe that any provider of advice should have formal training, and almost all (90 per cent) believe that any provider of property investment advice should be regulated or licensed.
Peter Koulizos is the <a href="http://www.pipa.asn.au/about-us/our-board" target="_blank">chairman</a> of Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA).
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Banking royal commission report proves lawlessness is rife

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EXPERT OBSERVER
<a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063"></a>
Every 10 to 15 years it’s the same.
Ever since <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-04/banking-scandals-were-decades-in-the-making/10771612?section=business" target="_blank">financial deregulation in the 1980s</a> we’ve had a finance industry scandal followed by an inquiry, a quick fix, and a declaration that it shouldn’t happen again.
In the early 1990s there were royal commissions into the A$1.7 billion <a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/https://trove.nla.gov.au/people/591917?c=people" target="_blank">Tri-continental/ State Bank Victoria</a> collapse, the A$3.1 billion State Bank of South Australia collapse and the <a href="http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/intranet/libpages.nsf/webfiles/rc+1992/%24file/0015319.pdf" target="_blank">WA Inc</a> collapse which explored the interrelated activities at Rothwells bank, the A$1.8 billion collapse of Bond Corporation and the A$1.2 billion siphoned from Bell Resources.
A decade later in 2003 Justice Owen reported on the A$5.3 billion <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22library/prspub/XZ896%22" target="_blank">collapse of Australia’s largest insurer HIH</a>.
And now, bang on schedule, we have Kenneth Hayne delivering the <a href="https://financialservices.royalcommission.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank">final report</a> of a royal commission into systemic misconduct in banking, superannuation and financial services industry to a government that voted 26 times against holding it.
There are two particularly striking things about the 10-15 year cycle.
One is the rhythm of public inquiries followed by reports, then (sometimes) trials, then books, then almost everyone forgetting (except for those personally scarred) only for problems to resurface later.
The other is that the times between have been punctuated by government-commissioned banking and financial system reviews: the 1991 <a href="http://fsi.gov.au/files/2014/01/Chpt1-12.pdf" target="_blank">Campbell Inauiry</a>, the 1996 <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/RP9697/97rp16" target="_blank">Wallis Inquiry</a>, the 2010 <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/review/super-system-review/" target="_blank">Cooper superannuation review</a> and the 2012 <a href="http://fsi.gov.au/publications/" target="_blank">Murray Review </a>. Each either missed or downplayed the links between poor governance, industry structure, systemic misconduct and prudential risk.
<h2>Has Kenneth got the frequency right this time?</h2>
Commissioner Kenneth Hayne’s 1000-page final report hasn’t gone far enough to end this cycle.
While his referral of 24 misdeeds for possible criminal and civil prosecution will help in righting past wrongs and perhaps focus the minds of directors and executives, the impact will be generational rather than permanent.
The flurry of prosecutions and actions will again reveal <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/asic-life-ban-overturned-after-aat-find-key-arguments-not-raised-20181014-p509jc" target="_blank">problems with the law</a> - gaps in coverage, inadequate penalties and cases the law won’t allow to stand up.
Taken together the recommendations are a patchwork of measures that if implemented will over time be eaten away – and at some point will be dismantled – because the rationale for their adoption will be forgotten.
Even before they are implemented they will have to run the gauntlet of a massive subterranean lobbying effort from industry to water them down, something Hayne indicated he expected.
<h2>The deepest flaw lies unaddressed…</h2>
Even though Hayne emphasises the link between systemic misconduct, governance, structure and prudential (system-wide) risk, something that Treasury, the RBA and Australia’s three business regulator amigos, APRA, ASIC and the ACCC, <a href="https://theconversation.com/treasury-admits-corporate-governance-is-broken-but-baulks-at-systemic-fixes-100882" target="_blank">have long rejected</a>, he makes no concrete suggestions to tackle it.
As we have written previously, research tells us big systemically important shareholder-focused universal for-profit banks that cross-sell products are more profitable than smaller banks in the good times but are <a href="https://theconversation.com/treasury-admits-corporate-governance-is-broken-but-baulks-at-systemic-fixes-100882" target="_blank">more prone to misconduct and to failure in the worse times</a>.
Australia’s big four fit the bill - they’re big, they have been vertically integrated one-stop shops, they are very, very profitable and they are very focused on shareholder returns.
While the banks, apart from Westpac, have divested themselves of wealth management and insurance arms for now there is nothing stopping them reacquiring them in the future.
This means we are once again 10 or 15 years away from systemic misconduct resurfacing as big banks seek to become more profitable.
<h2>…and putting the onus on directors won’t much help</h2>
While heads might roll in yet another round of internal investigations to fix bank culture, it is wise to remember that as <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/asic-red-faced-over-opes-prime-verdict-20130906-2ta8f" target="_blank">Adele Ferguson observed</a> ANZ’s internal investigation of the Opes Prime collapse left the bigger governance lessons “unlearned”.
Directors and senior executives of failed companies continue to live charmed lives.
The directors of Babcock and Brown <a href="https://www.smartcompany.com.au/finance/economy/babcock-brown-leaders-disgraceful-exit-kohler/" target="_blank">were cheered as they left the building</a>, while friends and family of the disgraced One.Tel director Jodee Rich have resurfaced at Hayne and other public inquiries.
Some of the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/business/james-packer-and-lachlan-murdoch-close-to-onetel-settlement-20140411-36iii" target="_blank">One.Tel directors</a> have had long corporate careers. The former chair at of the collapsed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allco_Finance_Group" target="_blank">Allco Finance Group</a> Bob Mansfield went on to review the ABC.
As Adam Schwab bluntly put it, <a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2014/03/24/after-babcock-browns-collapse-its-money-men-try-again/" target="_blank">“corporate Australia is nothing if not forgiving”</a>.
<h2>It’ll chase horses rather than close doors</h2>
Hayne is persisting with a chasing bolting horses approach to misconduct that relies on detection and enforcement.
We have argued this approach is <a href="https://theconversation.com/solving-deep-problems-with-corporate-governance-requires-more-than-rearranging-deck-chairs-99297" target="_blank">just not as a effective as other alternatives such as two-tier boards and employee directors</a> which have a better track record of keeping stable doors closed and horses tethered.
Without them we could very easily have another crisis and another royal commission in 15 to 15 years time.
Ireland has taken a been prepared to change corporate structures. After the meltdown of its financial system triggered by the end of a “classic vanilla property boom” its parliament legislated to appoint <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14735970.2015.1128752" target="_blank">public interest directors to the boards of its </a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14735970.2015.1128752" target="_blank">failed</a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14735970.2015.1128752" target="_blank"> banks</a>.
These changes were designed to ensure banks directors put the public interest first, ahead of shareholders interests and even customers interests.
It’s beyond time we did it here.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110437/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/andrew-linden-330227" target="_blank">Andrew Linden</a>, Sessional Lecturer, PhD (Management) Candidate, School of Management, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063" target="_blank">RMIT University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/warren-staples-426467" target="_blank">Warren Staples</a>, Senior Lecturer in Management, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/rmit-university-1063" target="_blank">RMIT University</a>
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/haynes-failure-to-tackle-bank-structure-means-that-in-a-decade-or-so-another-treasurer-will-have-to-call-another-royal-commission-110437" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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Hayne’s failure to tackle bank structure means that in a decade we will have to call another banking royal commission

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Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is under pressure to release the final report of the banking royal commission on February 1 – the day it is handed to the federal government.
Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen is demanding the report be released publicly on the same day it’s handed to the government, ahead of Parliament resuming in mid-February.
The New Daily website reported Labor will warn any failure to release the royal commission’s final report immediately would “unnecessarily politicise the handling of the report and give rise to potential material market risks around leaks of all or part of the report”.
<a href="https://www.propertyobserver.com.au/subscribe" target="_blank"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dz9xllyip/image/fetch/c_scale,w_580,q_auto:good/https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/po.images/2019/1/Subscriber%20strip%20ad.jpg" alt=""></a>
“It is in the national interest for the Australian people and victims of banking scandals to be able to access the <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/finance-news/2018/11/30/bank-royal-commission-wrap/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Hayne Banking Royal Commission</a>’s final report and form their own views, at the earliest opportunity, and that means on Friday, February 1,” Mr Bowen said.
“I have written to the Treasurer requesting they release the final report and related documents of the banking royal commission as soon as practicable after it is received by the government.”
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg established a precedent of releasing the <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/money/finance-news/2018/09/28/kenneth-hayne-royal-commission-interim-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Royal Commission’s interim report</a> on the day it was received.
The Treasurer will deliver a major economic speech at the Sydney Institute on tonight, which is expected to touch on the government’s approach to the royal commission.
The government voted 26 times against establishing the royal commission. 
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Labor seeks February 1 release of banking royal commission report

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GUEST OBSERVATION
The financial services royal commission resumes for its final round of hearings on Monday, and reappearing before Justice Hayne will be the chief executives each of the big six institutions he has in his sights: the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, AMP, Macquarie, ANZ, and the National Australia Bank.
At issue are shocking abuses of trust, and when the government responds after receiving the report in February it will be under pressure to introduce tighter rules that more closely regulate bankers’ behaviour.
There’s another, better, path it could follow. It could loosen the rules and treat bankers more like doctors.
Crude attempts to regulate behaviour fail
We trust doctors, not because their behaviour is tightly regulated but because it is self-regulated. As professionals they strive to be trustworthy, in the same way as citizens who don’t cheat on their social security claims, or restaurant customers who don’t eat without paying.
A regulation imposed on top of a relationship of trust can ruin it.
In a famous study titled A Fine Is A Price, economists Uri Gneezy and Aldo Rustichini examined what happened when an Israeli daycare centre attempted to impose fines on parents who picked up their children late.
Surprisingly, the trial of the fine resulted in more, rather than fewer, late pickups.
In the eyes of the late parents, the fine changed late pickups from bad behaviour into an acceptable outcome of cost-benefit analysis. They simply interpreted the fine as a babysitting cost, and weighed it against the benefit of arriving when it suited them. Moral motivations were crowded out.
Doctors take vows
Professionals with ethics take vows to honour their duty to their clients, even where the costs of doing so are greater than the benefits of not doing so.
Service providers who don’t take ethics seriously weigh the costs and benefits of acting in the interests of their clients versus acting in their own interests. This ‘moral optimization’ may take account of ethics, but only if it pays.
Many financial services workers don’t take ethics seriously partly because they have been trained in economics or finance – disciplines which teach that cost-benefit analysis applies to everything.
A start would be to train them better. Their teachers could listen to the words of the creator of much of the theory used to justify performance pay, Michael Jensen of Harvard:
"We teach our students the importance of conducting a cost-benefit analysis in everything they do. In most cases, this is useful – but not when it comes to behaving with integrity."
When integrity is at stake it is better to replace moral optimization with moral prioritization, by giving priority to moral principles like telling the truth or looking after vulnerable clients.
Money changes things
Recent research on the psychological power of money suggests that financial market participants are at risk of negative ethical tendencies when money is used as an incentive, or even when they are just reminded of its importance, so-called money priming.
Money is used as an incentive to in order overcome the so-called principal-agent problem in which agents, (workers or chief executives) are tempted to put they own interests ahead of those of the firm they work for.
It can work, but if high-powered financial incentives communicate that the recipient’s only goal should be to maximise profit, then a culture of material self-interest takes hold, constrained at best by the letter of the law. And this crowds out other interests, such as those of their customers.
This means high-powered financial incentives can solve one kind of untrustworthiness, but only by creating another.
Professionals such as doctors and teachers solve the principal agent problem in another way: through ethics.
Banking could be a profession
Rather than further regulation, we propose a greater focus on ethics through a program of professionalisation, including:
<ol>
<li>
Establishing an interim professional body run by outsiders who come with a proven ethic of serving the public in fields such as education or health. After five years the finance industry can apply to the government to staff and run the body itself, subject to performance.
</li>
<li>
A winding back of regulation in order to signal that “you are professionals who have to take responsibility for ethical judgements”. The professional body could stand down senior managers deemed not to be showing commitment to the new culture.
</li>
<li>
A fundamental change of bonuses so that they become incentives for ethical behaviour. We suggest an automatic bonus payment of 10-20% of total pay. It could be withheld for two reasons: either poor financial performance of the firm, or an ethical breach. In effect, it would be a negative bonus. Multiple ethical breaches would result in the loss of professional status and employment.
</li>
</ol>
Regulation hasn’t worked
Automatic bonuses remove the extreme money priming of the finance industry, and they can be helpful in maintaining employment in the event of a downturn. They can simply be reduced instead of laying off staff, as happened during the global financial crisis.
Boosting regulation and boosting the capability of regulators, as many say they want, could work against developing the ethics and the trust that makes other professions work.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106927/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;">
Warren Hogan, Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney and Gordon Menzies, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Technology Sydney
This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-tip-for-bankers-ahead-of-the-royal-commission-be-more-like-doctors-106927" target="_blank">original article</a>.
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A tip for bankers ahead of the royal commission: be more like doctors

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EXPERT OBSERVER
Australia’s banks will change the Banking Code of Practice to overhaul the way they manage a customer’s estate when they have died and end ‘fees for no service’ across the industry.
Further to this they will seek new legislation to end grandfathered payments and trail commissions for financial advisers. 
These reforms are the first of several key changes in response to the Royal Commission and include:
<ul type="disc">
<li class="x_MsoBodyText">Ending ‘fees for no service’ - Banks will change the way they manage ongoing financial advice, proactively contacting customers to confirm what advice is required and only charging for what is provided</li>
<li class="x_MsoBodyText">Changing the Banking Code of Practice to improve the way banks manage a deceased estate - Once notified of a customer’s death, banks will proactively identify fees that are for products and services that can no longer be provided in the circumstances, stop charging those fees and refund any paid</li>
<li class="x_MsoBodyText">Seeking new legislative changes to the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) reforms to remove all legislative provisions that allow grandfathered payments and trail commissions in financial advice</li>
</ul>
These initiatives addressed two of the strongest concerns raised by the Royal Commission’s Interim Report.
It has always been unacceptable for any organisations to charge fees without providing a service.
This announcement will put beyond the shadow of a doubt that this practice has no place in Australia’s banking industry.
Banks will change the way they manage a customer’s account, proactively contacting them to confirm what services are required for their investments and only charging for those provided.
This issue of charging fees without service, particularly when customers have recently died, was raised during the Royal Commission and identified as unacceptable.
When someone loses a loved one, they need support and compassion as they finalise their loved one’s financial affairs. Charging ongoing advice fees to dead people is clearly unacceptable.
Right now banks are working with customers to refund those charged a fee where no service was provided. Latest ASIC data indicates customers will receive more than $1 billion in refunds.
In addition to these changes the industry is supporting legislation to remove grandfathering provisions in relation to financial advice.
This is another important piece in the puzzle of ensuring there are no conflicts for advisers.
ANNA BLIGH is the CEO of the Australian Banking Association and is the former Premier of Queensland. 
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