Banks respond to Conduct and Culture Report

Media Release

2 April 2019

All 11 banks involved in the Bank Conduct and Culture review by the Financial Markets Authority and the Reserve Bank have responded with individual work plans.

“While I cannot disclose the information in each work plan, I can confirm that all banks with sales incentives have committed to remove or address them for frontline salespeople and their managers. Others have already removed sales incentives,” says New Zealand Bankers’ Association chief executive Roger Beaumont.

Regulators expect affected banks to implement changes to their incentives programmes no later than the first performance year after 30 September 2019.

“We are pleased the review found no evidence of widespread misconduct and culture issues across the industry here.

“Nonetheless it found there was work to do to put better systems and processes in place to ensure good customer outcomes. We understand the urgency of providing reassurance to the public and regulators. That’s why we have acted quickly.

“The individual work plans for each bank have all been signed off at the highest level. That means there is buy-in from the very top of these financial institutions to make sure they’re meeting regulator and public expectations,” says Beaumont.

ENDS

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