Briefs: APRA scopes, ASIC intrudes, IAG exec turns banker

Banking Day staff
  • John Lonsdale, the new deputy chair of APRA is leading an internal review of the regulator's enforcement capability, he explained at a Senate estimates hearing yesterday. Helen Rowell, one of APRA's members, said it was "considering our potential for a shift in that and more appetite to take action and apply penalties," The Australian reports.
  • CBA will become the first financial institution to have senior ASIC staff embedded in its offices. The officials are expected to work inside CBA for several weeks depending on the scale of any issues they identify, reports The Sydney Morning Herald. As the program rolls out, officials from the regulator will be going in and out of the banks and AMP, rather than the same staffers being permanently embedded in each company. ASIC chair James Shipton said earlier this week that the initiative would be used to "build and characterise change" within the banks.
  • uno Home Loans has appointed Anthony Justice as CEO. He joins uno from IAG's Australian Consumer Division, where he was also CEO. Vincent Turner, founder of the fintech, has shifted to the role of chief innovation officer.
  • Rod Sims will stay on as chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission until 1 August 2022, by which time he will have held the job for 11 years.
  • Westpac will tinker with commission payments to brokers from the beginning of 2019, in terms that follow an industry template. Upfront commission payments for standard home loans will be linked to net debt utilisation and inclusive of loan offset arrangements, rather than the approved loan limit, the bank said.