WHAT HAVE WE LEARNT FROM THE LATEST BANK BOSS HEARINGS?
THE COMMONWEALTH BANK:
* Commonwealth Bank has stopped ongoing fees for 97 per cent of its financial advice customers, with the fees expected to be completely removed within 10 days.
* CBA boss Matt Comyn says he is not aware of any staff being interviewed by regulator the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) over matters referred to in the banking royal commission's final report.
* But he said 73 staff have been interviewed as part of ASIC's continuous monitoring of the bank (an ASIC team is based at CBA).
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* In late 2018, CBA emailed eight million customers, apologising again for misconduct and asking people to get in touch directly with complaints or other feedback. Mr Comyn said in October that 9000 people had responded, with that figure now sitting at 14,000.
* Of those 14,000 responses, 5500 were classified as complaints. CBA established a team of 40 people to deal with the complaints, most of which have been settled.
* But there are currently 990 Commonwealth Bank complaints before the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.
* The CBA revealed in its half-year results that it had paid about $1.4 billion for remediation over the past five years (including both refunds and administrative and programs cost). Mr Comyn says it's unlikely such payments have been paid before.
WESTPAC:
* Of banking royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne's 76 recommendations, Westpac chief executive Brian Hartzer says 53 require action by the bank, and 25 are already under way or complete.
* Westpac spent $380 million on remediation in the 2017-18 financial year, including some administration costs. That was up from $169 million the year before.
* Since July 2018, the bank has resolved 500 long-dated complaints. About 200 remain, with many currently before the Australian Financial Complaints Authority for review.
* Westpac has reduced its complaints by 60 per cent in the past few years, with 0.3 per cent of customers now complaining in a given year.
