Penalties for bad behaviour among bankers are not strong enough to deter individuals from ripping off customers, the chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) says.

Increasing the financial consequences for unscrupulous financial planners and life insurance salespeople should be the priority if the Government is serious about creating “a law enforcement regime that works”, Greg Medcraft told Lateline.

“If you’re a law enforcement agency you’ve got to have penalties that actually hurt,” he said.

“Unfortunately … people are deterred by the prospect of how serious a penalty’s going to be. That is critical. As well as the funding for more surveillance, and then having penalties that actually work — that put the fear of God into people.”

Despite a personal plea in a white paper delivered to the former Labor government four years ago calling for penalties to be beefed up, Mr Medcraft said the formal recommendation was still being “reviewed” by the Turnbull Government.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-18/penalties-too-weak-to-discourage-banks’-bad-behaviour:-asic-boss/7944570

tauto said:

Penalties for bad behaviour among bankers are not strong enough to deter individuals from ripping off customers, the chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) says.

Increasing the financial consequences for unscrupulous financial planners and life insurance salespeople should be the priority if the Government is serious about creating “a law enforcement regime that works”, Greg Medcraft told Lateline.

“If you’re a law enforcement agency you’ve got to have penalties that actually hurt,” he said.

“Unfortunately … people are deterred by the prospect of how serious a penalty’s going to be. That is critical. As well as the funding for more surveillance, and then having penalties that actually work — that put the fear of God into people.”

Despite a personal plea in a white paper delivered to the former Labor government four years ago calling for penalties to be beefed up, Mr Medcraft said the formal recommendation was still being “reviewed” by the Turnbull Government.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-18/penalties-too-weak-to-discourage-banks’-bad-behaviour:-asic-boss/7944570

I think custodial sentences should not be off the table

dv said:

tauto said:

Penalties for bad behaviour among bankers are not strong enough to deter individuals from ripping off customers, the chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) says.

Increasing the financial consequences for unscrupulous financial planners and life insurance salespeople should be the priority if the Government is serious about creating “a law enforcement regime that works”, Greg Medcraft told Lateline.

“If you’re a law enforcement agency you’ve got to have penalties that actually hurt,” he said.

“Unfortunately … people are deterred by the prospect of how serious a penalty’s going to be. That is critical. As well as the funding for more surveillance, and then having penalties that actually work — that put the fear of God into people.”

Despite a personal plea in a white paper delivered to the former Labor government four years ago calling for penalties to be beefed up, Mr Medcraft said the formal recommendation was still being “reviewed” by the Turnbull Government.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-18/penalties-too-weak-to-discourage-banks’-bad-behaviour:-asic-boss/7944570

I think custodial sentences should not be off the table

But you wouldn’t want to lie on your centrelink form.

http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/10/18/12/11/brazen-demolition-of-melbourne-heritage-pub-sparks-backlash

sarahs mum said:

dv said:

tauto said:

Penalties for bad behaviour among bankers are not strong enough to deter individuals from ripping off customers, the chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) says.

Increasing the financial consequences for unscrupulous financial planners and life insurance salespeople should be the priority if the Government is serious about creating “a law enforcement regime that works”, Greg Medcraft told Lateline.

“If you’re a law enforcement agency you’ve got to have penalties that actually hurt,” he said.

“Unfortunately … people are deterred by the prospect of how serious a penalty’s going to be. That is critical. As well as the funding for more surveillance, and then having penalties that actually work — that put the fear of God into people.”

Despite a personal plea in a white paper delivered to the former Labor government four years ago calling for penalties to be beefed up, Mr Medcraft said the formal recommendation was still being “reviewed” by the Turnbull Government.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-18/penalties-too-weak-to-discourage-banks’-bad-behaviour:-asic-boss/7944570

I think custodial sentences should not be off the table

But you wouldn’t want to lie on your centrelink form.

http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/10/18/12/11/brazen-demolition-of-melbourne-heritage-pub-sparks-backlash

“We loved that pub. It was our pub. The cheap beer. The wedges. Its proximity to the law school.”

Proximity to the law school might come in handy this time.

The there’s Wells Fargo’s little game they recently played.

Banks are about making money , they work in their own interest

The last form of control of the banks here occurred when the commonwealth bank was sold

Time to crack down on this lettuce thing that’s getting in the way of profits

Interesting OP in the sense that individual bank employees who handle the financial planning and insurance services are the least tightly controlled, so most likely to be corrupt. In the past I’d only thought of them as being short-sighted and ignorant.

wookiemeister said:

The last form of control of the banks here occurred when the commonwealth bank was sold

Banking controls in Australia are still much better than in the USA, Panama, the Caribbean and many places in Europe. I wouldn’t trust a bank in Greece or Cyprus or Syria right now. I wonder if there’s a reliable guide to banking controls by country on the web?

(Lettuce spray for better banks)

Considering your average Joe or Jill Slob whose stolen or misappropriated money often gets a stiff penalty from the courts the same and more should be applied to deliberate actions by bank staff who rip-off customers especially as they are in a position of privilege.

what angers me is when you transfer money from a bank to paypal

but takes four days to do so while the money is pending

so, what happens while the money is pending

does someone else have control of it and earn interest on it for those 4 days pending?

I would like to transfer money straight away

not allow others to control pending time

also fees for international exchange are nonsense too get rid of them

Cymek said:

Considering your average Joe or Jill Slob whose stolen or misappropriated money often gets a stiff penalty from the courts the same and more should be applied to deliberate actions by bank staff who rip-off customers especially as they are in a position of privilege.

There is a gap between crimes that are serious and crimes that are taken seriously.