Interview with ABC reporter Dan Ziffer. Buck brings up a discussion about the Banking...

Transcription

1 TUE 11 SEPTEMBER 2018 Mediaportal Report Interview with ABC reporter Dan Ziffer. Buck brings up a discussion about the Banking... ABC Radio Sydney, Sydney, Breakfast, Wendy Harmer and Robbie Buck 7:15 AM Duration: 10 mins 10 secs ASR AUD 18,479 NSW Australia Industry Super Australia - Radio & TV ID: X Interview with ABC reporter Dan Ziffer. Buck brings up a discussion about the Banking Royal Commission continuing in Melbourne, with a focus on insurance for this week. Buck reveals insurance company ClearView admitted it may have broken 303,000 times by cold-calling people to sell life insurance. Buck states the anti-hawking prohibitions of the Corporations Act ban the sale of financial products being promoted in unsolicited calls. Ziffer describes the setting at the Banking Royal Commission with Rowena Orr at the front as the senior counsel assisting. Ziffer confirms ClearView was forced to admit to 303,000 instances of breaking criminal law, topping Commonwealth Bank's 15,000 criminal breaches of law. Buck plays audio excerpt of Gregory Martin telling Orr that they did not know they were breaking the rules. Ziffer believes they did know after multiple reports by regulator ASIC and direct meetings. Ziffer insists financial products are dangerous and the people who were selling them are not qualified that is why there are the anti-hawking laws. Harmer then plays audio excerpt of Martin conceding the culture of the company was not as it should be. Ziffer then discusses customer disturbance in the life insurance industry and he believes there will be a lot more about this as the fortnight goes on. Ziffer mentions Australia's largest insurers AIA, Allianz, and NAB have been fronting up to misconduct for not paying people their money, double-charging people, and delaying claims. Ziffer notes it was also revealed ClearView executives were going after 'poor people' and some of the staff who were making the cold calls were able to make $8,000 bonus in a fortnight if they exceeded their sales target. Meanwhile, Ziffer reveals the commission is moving to natural disaster insurance this week looking at the hailstorm in Dubbo and Victorian bushfire. 77,000 All, 41,000 MALE 16+, 35,000 FEMALE 16+ Interviewees Dan Ziffer, Reporter, ABC Gregory Martin, ClearView [excerpt] Rowena Orr, senior counsel assisting the banking royal commission [excerpt] Program Preview... ABC Radio Sydney, Sydney, Breakfast, Wendy Harmer and Robbie Buck 7:13 AM Duration: 0 min 18 secs ASR AUD 545 NSW Australia Industry Super Australia - Radio & TV ID: X Program Preview - Discussion about the Banking Royal Commission. Buck notes it was revealed over 300,000 breaches were made by an insurance company. 77,000 All, 41,000 MALE 16+, 35,000 FEMALE 16+ COPYRIGHT This report and its contents are for the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only and must not be provided to any third party by any means for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia and/or the relevant copyright owner. For more information contact copyright@isentia.com DISCLAIMER Isentia makes no representations and, to the extent permitted by law, excludes all warranties in relation to the information contained in the report and is not liable for any losses, costs or expenses, resulting from any use or misuse of the report.

2 Report by George Roberts. Lane says a major law firm is launching what it believes is... Radio National, Canberra, AM, Sabra Lane Duration: 3 mins 26 secs ASR AUD 149,600 National Australia Industry Super Australia - Radio & TV ID: X :10 AM Report by George Roberts. Lane says a major law firm is launching what it believes is Australia's largest class action, which could affect around a third of all Australians with a super fund. Slater and Gordon is targeting superannuation funds owned by the big banks, alleging they owe more than a billion dollars to clients because of over inflated fees. The law firm claims that evidence of the Banking Royal Commission shows bank owner funds charge exorbitant. Roberts explains that Ron, 64 years old, has had his super with AMP for more than 35 years. Ron suspects he lost tens of thousands of dollars in superannuation fees that he should not have had to pay. Ron is joining legal action set up by Slater and Gordon. Ben Hardwick, head of class actions, Slater and Gordon, says a two person household in Australia spends more money on superannuation fees than they do on electricity. Hardwick explains that the job of a trustee is solely and squarely to look after the interest of the beneficiaries. Slater and Gordon believes that the claim could be extended to cover any fund with a cash component, where the cash was invested with the parent bank in the same way as colonial first state. Lane says AM has contacted AMP for a response. 130,000 All, 64,000 MALE 16+, 63,000 FEMALE 16+ Interviewees Ben Hardwick, head of class actions, Slater and Gordon Ron, 64 year old Also broadcast from the following 9 stations Radio Australia (Asia Pacific) (Sydney), Radio National (Sydney), Radio National (Melbourne), Radio National (Brisbane), Radio National (Perth), Radio National (Hobart), Radio National (Adelaide), Radio National (Darwin), Radio National (Newcastle) Regular Segment: Finance with Madeleine Morris... ABC News, Sydney, News Breakfast, Michael Rowland, Virginia Trioli and Georgie Tunny 7:05 AM Duration: 0 min 38 secs ASR AUD 6,887 National Australia Industry Super Australia - Radio & TV ID: X Regular Segment: Finance with Madeleine Morris - Slater and Gordon is launching class actions against superannuation funds owned by the banks, alleging super funds owe more than a billion dollars to Australians because of overinflated fees and gouged returns as shown in the Royal Commission. The firm alleges AMP and CBA-owned firm Colonial First Estate has fees that are too high. It says the class action could end up targeting any fund with a cash component invested in a parent bank. 187,000 All, 98,000 MALE 16+, 88,000 FEMALE 16+ Vision AMP, CBA, Slate and Gordon Also broadcast from the following 22 stations ABC (Hobart), ABC (Darwin), ABC (Sydney), ABC (Brisbane), ABC (Adelaide), ABC (Melbourne), ABC (Perth), ABC (Canberra), ABC (Regional Queensland), ABC (Regional Victoria), ABC (Regional NSW), ABC (Albany), ABC News (Melbourne), ABC News (Regional NSW), ABC News (Brisbane), ABC News (Adelaide), ABC News (Perth), ABC News (Regional Queensland), ABC News (Hobart), ABC News (Canberra), ABC News (Regional Victoria), ABC News (Regional West Australia) COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

3 Interview with Andrew Thorburn, CEO, NAB, on their move not to raise standard variable... Channel 9, Melbourne, Today, Karl Stefanovic, Georgie Gardner, Sylvia Jeffreys, Tim Gilbert Duration: 4 mins 36 secs ASR AUD 139,068 National Australia Industry Super Australia - Radio & TV ID: X :03 AM Interview with Andrew Thorburn, CEO, NAB, on their move not to raise standard variable home loan rates. It comes as Westpac, ANZ, and the Commonwealth Bank raise its rates. Thorburn says they want to show that they are listening and acting differently. He also says they are slowly rebuilding trust with their customers. Thorburn says there has been a pressure on funding cost, but adds that they have to focus on their customers. Thorburn also mentions the more they can look after their customers, the more the business will get better. Thorburn says it is all about appreciating customers and delivering exceptional service for them. Stefanovic recalls the time when Thorburn apologised following the findings in the Royal Commission into Banking, and he comments the problem is that people don't just believe the big four banks. Thorburn says they are working their way to re-earn customers' trust. Thorburn agrees household debt keeps on going up, but adds they are making sure customers can afford their mortgage. 315,000 All, 133,000 MALE 16+, 177,000 FEMALE 16+ Interviewees Andrew Thorburn, CEO, NAB Vision ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, NAB, Westpac Also broadcast from the following 38 stations Channel 9 (Adelaide), Channel 9 (Brisbane), Channel 9 (Perth), Channel 9 (Sydney), Channel 9 Darwin (Darwin), GEM (Perth), GEM (Regional West Australia), Imparja Alice Springs (Alice Springs), Imparja Longreach (Longreach), Imparja Mt Isa (Mt Isa), NBN Central Coast (Gosford), NBN Coffs Harbour (Coffs Harbour), NBN Gold Coast (Gold Coast), NBN Lismore (Lismore), NBN Moree (Upper Namoi), NBN Newcastle Hunter (Newcastle), NBN Tamworth (Tamworth), NBN Taree (Taree), Southern Cross ACT (Canberra), Southern Cross Albury (Albury), Southern Cross Bundaberg (Bundaberg), Southern Cross Cairns (Cairns), Southern Cross Mackay (Mackay), Southern Cross Rockhampton (Rockhampton), Southern Cross Shepparton (Shepparton), Southern Cross Toowoomba (Toowoomba), Southern Cross Townsville (Townsville), Southern Cross Victoria Ballarat (Ballarat), Southern Cross Victoria Bendigo (Bendigo), Southern Cross Victoria Gippsland (Sale), Southern Cross Victoria Swan Hill (Swan Hill), Southern Cross Victoria Warrnambool (Warrnambool), Southern Cross Wagga Wagga (Wagga Wagga), Southern Cross Wollongong (Wollongong), Tasmania Digital Television (Hobart), West Digital Television (Albany), WIN Mildura (Mildura), WIN Orange (Orange) Jones brings up a discussion about life insurance policies. Jones reports the Banking... 2GB, Sydney, Breakfast, Alan Jones 6:07 AM Duration: 1 min 40 secs ASR AUD 2,632 NSW Australia Industry Super Australia - Radio & TV ID: X Jones brings up a discussion about life insurance policies. Jones reports the Banking Royal Commission has turned its attention to the insurance industry, with submissions about litany of misconduct and wrongly denying claims. Jones raises question on what about overcharging customers or never explaining the small print. Jones then compares the situation to health insurance where the medical cover and the gaps are not being told to the consumers. Jones reveals the inquiry heard that life insurance paid out six billion dollars in commissions in five years and life insurance company Clearview admitted to more than $300,000 criminal breaches over a three-year period in relation to cold calling tactics, arguing they did not know they were breaking the rules. 113,000 All, 53,000 MALE 16+, 60,000 FEMALE 16+ Also broadcast from the following 1 station 4BC (Brisbane) COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

4 Regular Segment: Finance with Madeleine Morris... ABC News, Sydney, News Breakfast, Michael Rowland, Virginia Trioli and Georgie Tunny 6:05 AM Duration: 0 min 41 secs ASR AUD 3,517 National Australia Industry Super Australia - Radio & TV ID: X Regular Segment: Finance with Madeleine Morris - Slater and Gordon is launching class actions against superannuation funds owned by the banks, alleging super funds owe more than a billion dollars to Australians because of overinflated fees and gouged returns as shown in the Royal Commission. The firm alleges AMP and CBA-owned firm Colonial First Estate has fees that are too high. It says the class action could end up targeting any fund with a cash component invested in a parent bank. 79,000 All, 45,000 MALE 16+, 32,000 FEMALE 16+ Vision AMP, CBA Also broadcast from the following 22 stations ABC (Hobart), ABC (Darwin), ABC (Sydney), ABC (Brisbane), ABC (Adelaide), ABC (Melbourne), ABC (Perth), ABC (Canberra), ABC (Regional Queensland), ABC (Regional Victoria), ABC (Regional NSW), ABC (Albany), ABC News (Melbourne), ABC News (Regional NSW), ABC News (Brisbane), ABC News (Adelaide), ABC News (Perth), ABC News (Regional Queensland), ABC News (Hobart), ABC News (Canberra), ABC News (Regional Victoria), ABC News (Regional West Australia) The Banking Royal Commission has heard evidence of aggressive sales tactics, hefty... ABC News, Sydney, News Breakfast, Michael Rowland, Virginia Trioli and Georgie Tunny 6:04 AM Duration: 0 min 37 secs ASR AUD 3,169 National Australia Industry Super Australia - Radio & TV ID: X The Banking Royal Commission has heard evidence of aggressive sales tactics, hefty bonuses and more than 300,000 breaches of the law at the insurer ClearView. The commission heard the company made 303,000 unsolicited calls to sell life insurance, considered a criminal offence under the Corporations Act. 79,000 All, 45,000 MALE 16+, 32,000 FEMALE 16+ Vision ClearView Also broadcast from the following 22 stations ABC (Hobart), ABC (Darwin), ABC (Sydney), ABC (Brisbane), ABC (Adelaide), ABC (Melbourne), ABC (Perth), ABC (Canberra), ABC (Regional Queensland), ABC (Regional Victoria), ABC (Regional NSW), ABC (Albany), ABC News (Melbourne), ABC News (Regional NSW), ABC News (Brisbane), ABC News (Adelaide), ABC News (Perth), ABC News (Regional Queensland), ABC News (Hobart), ABC News (Canberra), ABC News (Regional Victoria), ABC News (Regional West Australia) COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

5 Jones reports the Banking Royal Commission has turned its attention to the insurance... 2GB, Sydney, Breakfast, Alan Jones 5:44 AM Duration: 3 mins 23 secs ASR AUD 5,343 NSW Australia Industry Super Australia - Radio & TV ID: X Jones reports the Banking Royal Commission has turned its attention to the insurance industry. He says senior counsel are assisting Rowena Orr QC on investigating a litany of misconducts by insurers including wrongly denying claims, overcharging customers, and misselling policies among others. Jones reports insurer ClearView has admitted to more than 300,000 criminal breaches over a period of three years in relation to its cold calling tactics. He quotes ClearView's chief actuary and risk officer Gregory Martin saying the company didn't realise it was breaching the rules at the time. Jones then relates this news to his own struggles with travel insurance after a colleague was seriously injured while on holiday in Italy. Jones says no one should fight for insurance like the way he had to. 113,000 All, 53,000 MALE 16+, 60,000 FEMALE 16+ Also broadcast from the following 1 station 4BC (Brisbane) NAB will be keeping their increase on mortgage rates on hold to regain customer... Channel 9, Melbourne, Today, Karl Stefanovic, Sylvia Jeffreys, Georgie Gardner, Tim Gilbert 5:35 AM Duration: 0 min 26 secs ASR AUD 9,425 National Australia Industry Super Australia - Radio & TV ID: X NAB will be keeping their increase on mortgage rates on hold to regain customer trust after it was tarnished by the Financial Services Royal Commission. 151,000 All, 71,000 MALE 16+, 75,000 FEMALE 16+ Also broadcast from the following 34 stations Channel 9 (Adelaide), Channel 9 (Brisbane), Channel 9 (Perth), Channel 9 (Sydney), Channel 9 Darwin (Darwin), Imparja Alice Springs (Alice Springs), Imparja Longreach (Longreach), Imparja Mt Isa (Mt Isa), NBN Central Coast (Gosford), NBN Coffs Harbour (Coffs Harbour), NBN Gold Coast (Gold Coast), NBN Lismore (Lismore), NBN Moree (Upper Namoi), NBN Newcastle Hunter (Newcastle), NBN Tamworth (Tamworth), NBN Taree (Taree), Southern Cross ACT (Canberra), Southern Cross Albury (Albury), Southern Cross Bundaberg (Bundaberg), Southern Cross Cairns (Cairns), Southern Cross Mackay (Mackay), Southern Cross Rockhampton (Rockhampton), Southern Cross Shepparton (Shepparton), Southern Cross Toowoomba (Toowoomba), Southern Cross Townsville (Townsville), Southern Cross Victoria Ballarat (Ballarat), Southern Cross Victoria Bendigo (Bendigo), Southern Cross Victoria Gippsland (Sale), Southern Cross Victoria Swan Hill (Swan Hill), Southern Cross Victoria Warrnambool (Warrnambool), Southern Cross Wagga Wagga (Wagga Wagga), Southern Cross Wollongong (Wollongong), Tasmania Digital Television (Hobart), West Digital Television (Albany) COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

6 NAB has kept its standard mortgage rate on hold and broke ranks with the big four to... Channel 9, Melbourne, National Nine Early News, Elizabeth Bryan 5:09 AM Duration: 0 min 24 secs ASR AUD 6,734 National Australia Industry Super Australia - Radio & TV ID: X NAB has kept its standard mortgage rate on hold and broke ranks with the big four to regain the trust of customers following the financial services Royal Commission. 54,000 All, 25,000 MALE 16+, 27,000 FEMALE 16+ Also broadcast from the following 33 stations Central GTS/BKN Port Pirie (Spencer Gulf), Channel 9 (Adelaide), Channel 9 (Brisbane), Channel 9 (Perth), Channel 9 (Sydney), Channel 9 Darwin (Darwin), Imparja Alice Springs (Alice Springs), NBN Central Coast (Gosford), NBN Coffs Harbour (Coffs Harbour), NBN Gold Coast (Gold Coast), NBN Lismore (Lismore), NBN Newcastle Hunter (Newcastle), NBN Tamworth (Tamworth), NBN Taree (Taree), Southern Cross ACT (Canberra), Southern Cross Albury (Albury), Southern Cross Bundaberg (Bundaberg), Southern Cross Cairns (Cairns), Southern Cross Mackay (Mackay), Southern Cross Rockhampton (Rockhampton), Southern Cross Shepparton (Shepparton), Southern Cross Toowoomba (Toowoomba), Southern Cross Townsville (Townsville), Southern Cross Victoria Ballarat (Ballarat), Southern Cross Victoria Bendigo (Bendigo), Southern Cross Victoria Gippsland (Sale), Southern Cross Victoria Swan Hill (Swan Hill), Southern Cross Victoria Warrnambool (Warrnambool), Southern Cross Wagga Wagga (Wagga Wagga), Southern Cross Wollongong (Wollongong), Tasmania Digital Television (Hobart), West Digital Television (Albany), WIN Mildura (Mildura) Finance world will never be the same again Daily Telegraph, Sydney, Business News, Terry McCrann Page words ASR AUD 15,121 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² NSW Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: The big message from the banking royal commis sion is the financial sector has been getting billions of dollars of "inappropriate" income. Yesterday, and for the next two weeks, the "inappropriate" income that has flowed from customers to insurance companies will be detailed in agonising detail. View original - Full text: 492 word(s), ~1 min 232,067 CIRCULATION Steer clear of advice too good to be true The Australian, Australia, Business News, Monica Rule Page words ASR AUD 4,065 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Be cautious of any advice that says you can start a retirement pension from your superannuation fund to avoid tax. The tax office may not approve of some superannuation schemes that do not comply with the income tax and superannuation laws. Take a situation where a selfmanaged superannuation fund member no longer wishes to manage their superannuation fund and wants to roll over the savings to either a retail super fund or an industry super fund. View original - Full text: 468 word(s), ~1 min 94,448 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

7 Dodgy policy refund Herald Sun, Melbourne, General News, Jeff Whalley Page words ASR AUD 13,326 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² VIC Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Car insurers to repay clients $120 million AUSTRALIANS sold useless vehicle insurance through car yards will be repaid $120 million, as pressure mounts for a further crackdown on insurers' dodgy practices. View original - Full text: 390 word(s), ~1 min 303,140 CIRCULATION The trade union enterprise The Australian, Australia, Editorials Page words ASR AUD 3,859 Photo: No Type: Editorial Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: FOR THE INFORMED AUSTRALIAN Too often, the interests of the membership come last In their self-righteous image, trade unions are a fragile shield of decency between brute corporate power and vulnerable workers at a time of income inequality and insecure jobs. The reality documented by a new Menzies Research Centre report is something altogether different. Unions represent an ever-shrinking minority in the workforce. They have more of a foothold in the public sector, where employees are far from powerless, enjoying job security and pay rises superior to those in the private sector. View original - Full text: 378 word(s), ~1 min 94,448 CIRCULATION BIG BUSINESS OF UNIONISM The Australian, Australia, General News, Brad Norington Page words ASR AUD 44,044 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: 1, cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: As membership declines, revenue and war chests are growing The idea that Sally McManus sits at the top of a corporate structure mimicking the big end of town the chair of a board awash with cash and driven by self-interest would seem to contradict everything she promotes. View original - Full text: 1799 word(s), ~7 mins 94,448 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

8 Young workers will be uninsured with 'opt-in' The Australian, Australia, Business News, Patricia Howard Page words ASR AUD 6,329 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: This week the insurance segment of the royal commission kicked off in Melbourne. We know already that direct insurance selling will be high on the agenda but hopefully the commission does not miss the biggest issue just now uninsured younger workers. The government is planning to change insurance laws so that if you are under 25 then life insurance will not be mandatory in super - rather you can choose to "opt-in". View original - Full text: 646 word(s), ~2 mins 94,448 CIRCULATION The trauma at the end of the RC line Herald Sun, Melbourne, Business News, Terry McCrann Page words ASR AUD 20,045 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² VIC Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: THE single biggest overarching message that has come out of the banking royal commission is that the financial sector has been getting "inappropriate" income which has run - and continues to run - into the billions of dollars every year. Yesterday, and for the next two weeks, it was/will be a case of "here we go again", as the "inappropriate" income which has flowed from customers to insurance companies will be detailed in agonising and often, entirely appropriately, embarrassing detail. View original - Full text: 748 word(s), ~2 mins 303,140 CIRCULATION Life insurers' $6bn fee grab in crosshairs The Australian, Australia, Business News, Michael Roddan Elizabeth Redman Page words ASR AUD 13,995 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: $6bn commissions in crosshairs The financial services royal commission has put more than $6 billion worth of commissions in the crosshairs as Kenneth Hayne's inquiry uncovered sales tactics behind the scandal-ridden life insurance industry. View original - Full text: 1088 word(s), ~4 mins 94,448 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

9 Bega's money not for Capilano Honey: Irvin The Australian, Australia, Business News, Eli Greenblat Page words ASR AUD 6,869 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Bega Cheese executive chairman Barry Irvin is adamant the dairy group is not about to launch a $200 million counter takeover bid for Capilano Honey. The denial comes despite the company yesterday triggering a capital raising for a similar amount to strengthen its balance sheet and give it the financial muscle to react to any "opportunities" in the food sector. View original - Full text: 699 word(s), ~2 mins 94,448 CIRCULATION Kudos for NAB The Australian, Australia, Business News Page words ASR AUD 3,319 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Andrew "battery man" Thorburn has put on an all-singing, all-dancing show to draw a line in the sand around home loan rates, which has the potential to actually change customer attitudes to the banks. The NAB chief rightly noted one action alone will not do the trick but can also rightly be said to be amassing a tidy package of procustomer reforms. View original - Full text: 415 word(s), ~1 min 94,448 CIRCULATION ASIC's banks penalties fall short: committee The Australian, Australia, General News, Cliona O'Dowd Page words ASR AUD 3,576 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: A parliamentary committee has blasted the corporate regulator for letting the big banks off "scotfree" and neglecting to crack down on systemic failings in the financial system. In its review of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission's 2017 annual report, the House of Representatives standing committee on economics cited "shocking examples of misconduct" exposed by the banking royal commission and criticised the regulator for not being tough enough and relying too much on enforceable undertakings. View original - Full text: 340 word(s), ~1 min 94,448 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

10 Sack them all, says insurance boss The Australian, Australia, General News, Michael Roddan Elizabeth Redman Page words ASR AUD 5,017 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: FINANCIAL SERVICES ROYAL COMMISSION ClearView chief risk officer Greg Martin called for his employees to be sacked after lashing the ASXlisted life insurer's "full-on sales culture without much regard for customers" and admitting it had breached criminal anti-hawking laws more than 300,000 times. The royal commission heard that ClearView, which continues to be in the sights of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission over "systemic" failures in complying with laws designed to prevent spruikers forcing unwanted policies on customers, ran an outbound call centre where as much as 40 per cent of calls were non-compliant and targeted "poor" Australians with unnecessary policies. View original - Full text: 477 word(s), ~1 min 94,448 CIRCULATION CALLING TIME ON ROGUE UNIONISTS The Australian, Australia, General News, Troy Bramston Page words ASR AUD 8,464 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: The case for taking on the militant CFMEU could not be more persuasive It is encouraging that Scott Morrison has threatened to deregister the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union, but why has it taken so long for the Coalition to take on these rogue militants? View original - Full text: 874 word(s), ~3 mins 94,448 CIRCULATION VOLUNTARY SUPER IDEA DERIDED, BUT THINK IT THROUGH The Australian, Australia, General News, Adam Creighton Page words ASR AUD 8,901 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: The benefits of our compulsory retirement savings system are overstated or unproven Former prime minister Paul Keating came out swinging last week after I wrote a column suggesting the idea of voluntary superannuation had so much going for it: higher wages, more choice, lower taxes, reduced financial parasitism and weakened vested interests. View original - Full text: 942 word(s), ~3 mins 94,448 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

11 Mountain of alleged misdeeds detailed Adelaide Advertiser, Adelaide, Business Journal, Michael Roddan Elizabeth Redman Page words ASR AUD 5,920 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² SA Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: THE royal commission has painfully detailed an almost endless chit list of misdemeanours by the country's scandalridden life insurance sector, including more than $6 billion of commissions for advisers in five years, out-of-date medical definitions, pushy sales culture, unsolicited and misleading sales calls and secret surveillance that further deteriorated claimants' mental health. Amid the mountain of alleged misconduct, counsel assisting the royal commission Rowena Orr, QC, told the hearing more than $6 billion in lucrative commissions had been paid to financial advisers for the sale of life insurance over the last five years by just 10 companies. View original - Full text: 423 word(s), ~1 min 112,097 CIRCULATION Super idea Adelaide Advertiser, Adelaide, Letters Page words ASR AUD 640 Photo: No Type: Letter Size: cm² SA Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: FULL marks to SA Best's Connie Bonaros for putting forward a Bill that would allow state public sector employees choice of fund for their superannuation guarantee contributions ("Super push for public servants", The Advertiser, yesterday). In this superannuation matter, as in several others, SA is the land of the living dinosaurs. Public-sector employees should have had choice of fund for super guarantee contributions years ago. View original - Full text: 110 word(s), <1 min 112,097 CIRCULATION Insurer's cold comfort Herald Sun, Melbourne, Business News, Jeff Whalley Page words ASR AUD 56,525 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: 1, cm² VIC Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: We broke the law, ClearView admits LIFE insurer ClearView Wealth has conceded it broke criminal laws up to 303,000 times in its efforts to hawk insurance by "cold calling" Australian consumers. View original - Full text: 635 word(s), ~2 mins 303,140 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

12 Retirement plans not super Courier Mail, Brisbane, General News, Anthony Keane Page words ASR AUD 3,741 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² QLD Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: We're aiming to retire earlier - but can't afford it GENERATION X wants to retire at 63 but believe they will need to work almost a decade longer to be able to afford it. View original - Full text: 389 word(s), ~1 min 135,007 CIRCULATION Can NAB buy customer trust and at what cost? Age, Melbourne, Business News, Elizabeth Knight Page words ASR AUD 43,636 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² VIC Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: National Australia Bank has a new product for sale - it's called trust. Its decision to separate itself from the banking pack and not increase mortgage rates won't deliver customer trust, but it might buy it some market share. View original - Full text: 591 word(s), ~2 mins 83,229 CIRCULATION Federal Court judge questions record $35m Westpac fine Age, Melbourne, Business News, LUKE COSTIN Page words ASR AUD 11,748 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² VIC Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: A Federal Court judge has baulked at Westpac's offer to pay a record $35 million fine over its irresponsible mortgage lending practices. The country's oldest bank and the corporate regulator last week agreed to the record fine after Westpac conceded it wrongly assessed people's ability to repay mortgages between December 2011 and March 2015, by relying on a benchmark for customer expenses. View original - Full text: 406 word(s), ~1 min 83,229 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

13 BANKS BACK IN FIRING LINE The Australian, Australia, Business News, Alan Kohler Page words ASR AUD 10,136 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Josh Frydenberg has an easy target for a tax rise Josh Frydenberg is facing the horrible distinction of being the first treasurer since Jim Cairns in 1975 and Chris Bowen in 2013 to come and go without having brought down a budget. View original - Full text: 1045 word(s), ~4 mins 94,448 CIRCULATION Insurers admit litany of misconduct Age, Melbourne, General News, Clancy Yeates Sarah Danckert Page words ASR AUD 14,434 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² VIC Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: The nation's best-known insurance companies have admitted a litany of misconduct including wrongly denying claims, overcharging customers and misselling policies, the Hayne royal commission has heard. As the commission turns its attention to the insurance sector this week, the opening address from senior counsel assisting, Rowena Orr, QC, yesterday outlined a series of admissions relating to the past 10 years that insurance giants made in their submissions to the inquiry. View original - Full text: 475 word(s), ~1 min 83,229 CIRCULATION NAB keeps mortgage rate on hold to 'build trust' Age, Melbourne, General News, Clancy Yeates Page words ASR AUD 9,622 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² VIC Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: National Australia Bank is leaving tens of millions in potential profit on the table in an attempt to repair its damaged reputation, signalling it will buck the industry trend and leave home loan interest rates unchanged for the short term, at least. In a surprise to many market observers, NAB yesterday said it would be keeping its standard variable home loan rate on hold at 5.24 per cent, unlike ANZ Bank, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank, which have all raised rates over the past week and a half. View original - Full text: 364 word(s), ~1 min 83,229 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

14 Can NAB buy customer trust and at what cost? Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, Business News, Elizabeth Knight Page words ASR AUD 50,343 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² NSW Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: National Australia Bank has a new product for sale - it's called trust. Its decision to separate itself from the banking pack and not increase mortgage rates won't deliver customer trust, but it might buy it some market share. View original - Full text: 535 word(s), ~2 mins 88,634 CIRCULATION What risk? Multibillion foreign investor gives Australia big tick Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, Business News, Elizabeth Knight Page words ASR AUD 31,214 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² NSW Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Canberra's political circus is definitely embarrassing. Australian businesses regularly cry that international investors will shun Australia thanks to policy or political uncertainty. But ask the head of one of the world's biggest pension funds whether we are a no-go zone and he seemed bemused. The $350 billion Canadian pension fund CPPI has been a longterm and consistent investor in Australia - in infrastructure, real estate and technology. Mention the concept of sovereign risk and the response is - what risk? View original - Full text: 631 word(s), ~2 mins 88,634 CIRCULATION Federal Court judge questions record $35m Westpac fine Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, Business News, LUKE COSTIN Page words ASR AUD 16,728 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² NSW Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: A Federal Court judge has baulked at Westpac's offer to pay a record $35 million fine over its irresponsible mortgage lending practices. The country's oldest bank and the corporate regulator last week agreed to the record fine after Westpac conceded it wrongly assessed people's ability to repay mortgages between December 2011 and March 2015, by relying on a benchmark for customer expenses. View original - Full text: 406 word(s), ~1 min 88,634 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

15 NAB opts against rise in rates for home loans Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, General News, Clancy Yeates Page words ASR AUD 28,093 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² NSW Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: BANKING National Australia Bank is leaving tens of millions in potential profit on the table in an attempt to repair its damaged reputation, signalling it will buck the industry trend and leave home loan interest rates unchanged for the short term, at least. View original - Full text: 616 word(s), ~2 mins 88,634 CIRCULATION A little more conversation Canberra Times, Canberra, General News Page words ASR AUD 2,433 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² ACT Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Join R U OK? for its Conversation Convoy tomorrow and the chance to meet R U OK? ambassador and singer-songwriter Nick de la Hoyde. View original - Full text: 184 word(s), <1 min 17,579 CIRCULATION Can NAB buy customer trust and at what cost? Age, Melbourne, Business News, Elizabeth Knight Page words ASR AUD 35,525 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² VIC Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: National Australia Bank has a new product for sale - it's called trust. Its decision to separate itself from the banking pack and not increase mortgage rates won't deliver customer trust, but it might buy it some market share. View original - Full text: 583 word(s), ~2 mins 83,229 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

16 Firm admits cold-call insurance crime spree Hobart Mercury, Hobart, Business News, Jeff Whalley Page words ASR AUD 1,381 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² TAS Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: LIFE insurer ClearView Wealth concedes it may have broken criminal laws more than 300,000 times in its efforts to hawk insurance by "cold calling" Aussie consumers. And major finance companies lavished more than $6 billion of commissions over five years on financial advisers who directed life insurance customers their way, the banking royal commission has heard. View original - Full text: 382 word(s), ~1 min 28,265 CIRCULATION NAB goes alone on rates Daily Mercury, Mackay QLD, General News Page words ASR AUD 261 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² QLD Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Bank ignores rivals' moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (pictured) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. View original - Full text: 396 word(s), ~1 min 7,738 CIRCULATION NAB goes alone on rates Gympie Times, Gympie QLD, General News Page words ASR AUD 192 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² QLD Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Bank ignores rivals' moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (pictured) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. View original - Full text: 396 word(s), ~1 min 2,997 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

17 NAB goes alone on rates News Mail, Bundaberg QLD, General News Page words ASR AUD 226 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² QLD Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Bank ignores rivals' moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (pictured) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. View original - Full text: 396 word(s), ~1 min 6,176 CIRCULATION NAB goes alone on rates Queensland Times, Ipswich QLD, General News Page words ASR AUD 226 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² QLD Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Bank ignores rivals' moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (pictured) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. View original - Full text: 396 word(s), ~1 min 6,256 CIRCULATION NAB breaks ranks Geelong Advertiser, Geelong VIC, General News Page words ASR AUD 647 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² VIC Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Bank says mortgage rate to stay low in bid to win trust NAB is keeping its variable mortgage rates on hold despite moves by its big four rivals to hike rates in response to increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn said yesterday National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions, but would continue to hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. View original - Full text: 286 word(s), ~1 min 16,687 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

18 NAB goes alone on rates Gladstone Observer, Gladstone QLD, General News Page words ASR AUD 226 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² QLD Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Bank ignores rivals' moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (pictured) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. View original - Full text: 396 word(s), ~1 min 3,301 CIRCULATION Can NAB buy customer trust and at what cost? Canberra Times, Canberra, Business News, Elizabeth Knight Page words ASR AUD 20,132 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² ACT Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: National Australia Bank has a new product for sale - it's called trust. Its decision to separate itself from the banking pack and not increase mortgage rates won't deliver customer trust, but it might buy it some market share. View original - Full text: 591 word(s), ~2 mins 17,579 CIRCULATION What risk? Multibillion foreign investor gives Australia big tick Canberra Times, Canberra, Business News, Elizabeth Knight Page words ASR AUD 10,040 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² ACT Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Canberra's political circus is definitely embarrassing. Australian businesses regularly cry that international investors will shun Australia thanks to policy or political uncertainty. But ask the head of one of the world's biggest pension funds whether we are a no-go zone and he seemed bemused. The $350 billion Canadian pension fund CPPI has been a longterm and consistent investor in Australia - in infrastructure, real estate and technology. Mention the concept of sovereign risk and the response is - what risk? View original - Full text: 631 word(s), ~2 mins 17,579 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

19 Federal Court judge questions record $35m Westpac fine Canberra Times, Canberra, Business News, LUKE COSTIN Page words ASR AUD 5,404 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² ACT Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: A Federal Court judge has baulked at Westpac's offer to pay a record $35 million fine over its irresponsible mortgage lending practices. The country's oldest bank and the corporate regulator last week agreed to the record fine after Westpac conceded it wrongly assessed people's ability to repay mortgages between December 2011 and March 2015, by relying on a benchmark for customer expenses. View original - Full text: 406 word(s), ~1 min 17,579 CIRCULATION Gen X and Y watch dream of early retirement fade Cairns Post, Cairns, General News, Anthony Keane Page words ASR AUD 2,809 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² QLD Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: GENERATION X wants to retire at 63 but believe they will need to work almost a decade longer to be able to afford it. Research by ING has found that Gen X - those aged 39 to 53 - believe they will need an average $1.5 million nest egg. View original - Full text: 313 word(s), ~1 min 13,896 CIRCULATION Cairns retirees celebrate in the wake of PM's move Cairns Post, Cairns, General News, Peter Carruthers Page words ASR AUD 682 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² QLD Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: RETIREES have ed Prime Minister Scott Morrison's plan to track on a move made by former PM Tony Abbott. The plan to reverse the budget decision to increase the age retirees become eligible for the old-age pension from 70 to 67 was welcome news, according to Cairns retirees, among them Thelma Bryan. View original - Full text: 285 word(s), ~1 min 13,896 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

20 Insurers admit to hundreds of cases of poor conduct Canberra Times, Canberra, General News, Clancy Yeates Sarah Danckert Page words ASR AUD 8,862 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² ACT Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: The nation's best-known insurance companies have admitted a litany of misconduct including wrongly denying claims, overcharging customers and mis-selling policies, the Hayne royal commission has heard. As the commission turns its attention to the insurance sector this week, the opening address from senior counsel assisting, Rowena Orr QC, on Monday outlined a series of admissions that insurance giants made in their submissions to the inquiry. View original - Full text: 670 word(s), ~2 mins 17,579 CIRCULATION Insurers admit litany of misconduct Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, General News, Clancy Yeates Sarah Danckert Page words ASR AUD 25,692 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² NSW Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: ROYAL COMMISSION The nation's best-known insurance companies have admitted a litany of misconduct including wrongly denying claims, overcharging customers and mis-selling policies, the Hayne royal commission has heard. View original - Full text: 642 word(s), ~2 mins 88,634 CIRCULATION Gen X, Y want to retire younger Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton QLD, General News, Anthony Keane Page words ASR AUD 315 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² QLD Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: GENERATION X wants to retire at 63 but believe they will need to work almost a decade longer to be able to afford it. New research by ING has found that gen X - those aged 39 to 53 - believe they will need an average $1.5 million nest egg. However they don't think they will be financially ready to reach that until age 72 and more than half haven't yet started planning for retirement. View original - Full text: 573 word(s), ~2 mins 9,376 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

21 NAB goes alone on rates Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton QLD, General News Page words ASR AUD 258 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² QLD Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Bank ignores rivals' moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. View original - Full text: 396 word(s), ~1 min 9,376 CIRCULATION TEXTS TO THE EDITOR Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton QLD, Letters Page words ASR AUD 254 Photo: No Type: Letter Size: cm² QLD Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: SMS the editor on with the word ROCK and a space in front of your message. G BOB LANSDOWNE. Oh what a show... Cormann and Pyne play goodies-n-baddies with their deputy sheriff as he comes and goes. View original - Full text: 729 word(s), ~2 mins 9,376 CIRCULATION NAB opts against a rise in mortgage rate Newcastle Herald, Newcastle NSW, General News Page words ASR AUD 6,349 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² NSW Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn on Monday said National Australia Bank will continue to monitor funding conditions, but will continue to hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. View original - Full text: 347 word(s), ~1 min 23,625 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

22 Insurer admits 300,000 faults West Australian, Perth, General News, Nick Evans Page words ASR AUD 4,190 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² WA Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: The first life insurance company hauled before the financial services royal commission has admitted to more than 300,000 criminal breaches of the law by unleashing an aggressive and deceptive sales force on low-income Australians. The admission came amid revelations that Australia's 10 biggest life insurance companies paid more than $6 billion in commissions to financial advisers over five years. View original - Full text: 368 word(s), ~1 min 147,676 CIRCULATION There will be trauma at the end of RC line Gold Coast Bulletin, Gold Coast QLD, General News, Terry McCrann Page words ASR AUD 2,538 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² QLD Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: THE single biggest over-arching message that has come out of the Banking Royal Commission is that the financial sector has been getting 'inappropriate' income which has run - and continues to run - into the billions of dollars every year. Yesterday - and for the next two weeks - it was/will be a case of 'here we go again', as the 'inappropriate' income which has flowed from customers to insurance companies will be detailed in agonising and often, entirely appropriately, embarrassing detail. View original - Full text: 757 word(s), ~3 mins 21,468 CIRCULATION NAB opts against a rise in mortgage rate Launceston Examiner, Launceston TAS, General News Page words ASR AUD 2,321 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² TAS Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn on Monday said National Australia Bank will continue to monitor funding conditions, but will continue to hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. View original - Full text: 347 word(s), ~1 min 17,631 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

23 NAB goes alone on rates Gold Coast Bulletin, Gold Coast QLD, General News Page words ASR AUD 1,782 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² QLD Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Bank ignores rivals' moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (pictured) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. View original - Full text: 396 word(s), ~1 min 21,468 CIRCULATION NAB goes alone on rates Townsville Bulletin, Townsville QLD, General News Page words ASR AUD 1,487 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² QLD Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Bank ignores rivals' moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (pictured) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. View original - Full text: 396 word(s), ~1 min 16,484 CIRCULATION Treasury's directors push meets resistance Australian Financial Review, Australia, Leadership, Patrick Durkin Page words ASR AUD 4,652 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Business groups are resisting a push by federal Treasury for the Hayne royal commission to recommend the annual election of directors, limit terms and impose restrictions on the number of board seats directors can hold. The little-noticed recommendation in Treasury's submission to the royal commission is gaining momentum among global investor groups ahead of annual shareholder meeting season with one of the world's biggest fund managers State Street Global Advisors among those supporting the push. View original - Full text: 591 word(s), ~2 mins 44,635 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

24 What economists are thinking about the next wave of reform Australian Financial Review, Australia, General News, Ben Potter Page words ASR AUD 15,938 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Regulation Attention is being shifted to a German-style model. Breaking up the banks, circling them with industry superannuation funded banks or "people's banks" offering "no frills" retail banking out of Australia Post or the Reserve Bank, letting the Future Fund manage super, taxing "economic rents" instead of company profits. View original - Full text: 1370 word(s), ~5 mins 44,635 CIRCULATION Canada shows big is beautiful Australian Financial Review, Australia, General News Page words ASR AUD 7,666 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: If the future of Australia's superannuation sector revolves around a handful of mega-sized industry funds, each with more than $200 billion in assets, then Canada's pension industry provides the ideal place for some crystal ball gazing. The Canadians have two of the top 20 pension funds in the world - the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. These funds are very familiar to local institutional investors, investment bankers and lawyers because of their seemingly insatiable appetite for unlisted assets. View original - Full text: 605 word(s), ~2 mins 44,635 CIRCULATION Why NAB's rates strategy may not work Australian Financial Review, Australia, General News Page words ASR AUD 6,007 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: National Australia Bank's decision to not raise its standard variable home loan rates in response to rising funding costs has echoes of its previous failed efforts to strengthen customer loyalty through price differentiation. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn is following in the footsteps of his predecessor Cameron Clyne who famously introduced the "break-up" campaign, which urged customers of the other banks to leave the other big three banks and join NAB. View original - Full text: 715 word(s), ~2 mins 44,635 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

25 Insurers admit litany of wrongdoing Australian Financial Review, Australia, General News, Misa Han Page words ASR AUD 8,758 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: The country's largest insurers have admitted a list of misconduct and conduct falling below community standards, with the exception of global giant QBE Insurance Group. At the opening submission of round six of the banking royal commission on Monday, the country's biggest insurers pre-empted the commission's attack by admitting list after list of misconduct ranging from delays in claims handling to misleading advertising, to systemic administrative errors. View original - Full text: 646 word(s), ~2 mins 44,635 CIRCULATION Thorburn retreats on front book discounts Australian Financial Review, Australia, Companies and Markets, Sarah Turner And James Eyers Page words ASR AUD 12,844 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn said his call not to follow the other major banks in raising mortgage rates was designed to restore trust with existing customers rather than grow the bank's share of the housing loan market He said existing borrowers had not been receiving the benefits of aggressive discounts for new customers, known as the "front book", which the Productivity Commission last month citid as an example of a lack of banking competition. "If s probably not a long-term economic model to have aggressive front book discounting when your existing clients are not getting the same sort of deal," Mr Thorburn told The Australian Financial Review. View original - Full text: 1202 word(s), ~4 mins 44,635 CIRCULATION Insurers' confessions unsettling Australian Financial Review, Australia, Companies and Markets, James Thomson Page words ASR AUD 5,077 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: It didn't require a team of actuaries for the insurance sector to know that its round of banking royal commission hearings was going to be brutal. So the sight of senior counsel assisting Rowena Orr, QC, taking her feet on Monday morning must have sent an extra chill down the spine of the executives due to give evidence. View original - Full text: 682 word(s), ~2 mins 44,635 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

26 NAB opts against a rise in mortgage rate Illawarra Mercury, Wollongong NSW, General News Page words ASR AUD 3,532 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² NSW Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn on Monday said National Australia Bank will continue to monitor funding conditions, but will continue to hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. View original - Full text: 347 word(s), ~1 min 10,806 CIRCULATION NAB goes alone on rates Cairns Post, Cairns, General News Page words ASR AUD 1,214 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² QLD Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: Bank ignores rivals' moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (right) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. View original - Full text: 396 word(s), ~1 min 13,896 CIRCULATION Sack them all, says insurance boss The Australian, Australia, Edition Changes - All-round First, Michael Roddan Elizabeth Redman Page words ASR AUD 4,991 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: FINANCIAL SERVICES ROYAL COMMISSION ClearView chief risk officer Greg Martin called for his employees to be sacked after lashing the ASXlisted life insurer's "full-on sales culture without much regard for customers" and admitting it had breached criminal anti-hawking laws more than 300,000 times. The royal commission heard that ClearView, which continues to be in the sights of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission over "systemic" failures in complying with laws designed to prevent spruikers forcing unwanted policies on customers, ran an outbound call centre where as much as 40 per cent of calls were non-compliant and targeted "poor" Australians with unnecessary policies. View original - Full text: 473 word(s), ~1 min 94,448 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT For the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only. Not to be provided to any third party for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia. For further information contact copyright@isentia.com

27 NAB opts against a rise in mortgage rate Warrnambool Standard, Warrnambool VIC, General News Page words ASR AUD 1,191 Photo: Yes Type: News Item Size: cm² VIC Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn on Monday said National Australia Bank will continue to monitor funding conditions, but will continue to hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. View original - Full text: 347 word(s), ~1 min 8,274 CIRCULATION ASIC's banks penalties fall short: committee The Australian, Australia, Edition Changes - All-round First, Cliona O'Dowd Page words ASR AUD 3,576 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² National Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: A parliamentary committee has blasted the corporate regulator for letting the big banks off "scotfree" and neglecting to crack down on systemic failings in the financial system. In its review of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission's 2017 annual report, the House of Representatives standing committee on economics cited "shocking examples of misconduct" exposed by the banking royal commission and criticised the regulator for not being tough enough and relying too much on enforceable undertakings. View original - Full text: 339 word(s), ~1 min 94,448 CIRCULATION Insurer admits 300,000 faults West Australian, Perth, Edition Changes, Nick Evans Page words ASR AUD 4,190 Photo: No Type: News Item Size: cm² WA Australia Industry Super Australia - Press ID: The first life insurance company hauled before the financial services royal commission has admitted to more than 300,000 criminal breaches of the law by unleashing an aggressive and deceptive sales force on low-income Australians. The admission came amid revelations that Australia's 10 biggest life insurance companies paid more than $6 billion in commissions to financial advisers over five years. View original - Full text: 364 word(s), ~1 min 147,676 CIRCULATION COPYRIGHT This report and its contents are for the internal research use of Mediaportal subscribers only and must not be provided to any third party by any means for any purpose without the express permission of Isentia and/or the relevant copyright owner. For more information contact copyright@isentia.com DISCLAIMER Isentia makes no representations and, to the extent permitted by law, excludes all warranties in relation to the information contained in the report and is not liable for any losses, costs or expenses, resulting from any use or misuse of the report.

28 Daily Telegraph, Sydney Author: Terry McCrann Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 232,067 Page: 39 Printed Size: cm² Market: NSW Country: Australia ASR: AUD 15,121 Words: 492 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Finance world will never be the same again The big message from the banking royal commission is the financial sector has been getting billions of dollars of inappropriate income. Yesterday, and for the next two weeks, the inappropriate income that has flowed from customers to insurance companies will be detailed in agonising detail. I use the word inappropriate for two reasons. First, the payments cover a wide spectrum, from outright fraud to entirely legal overcharging. The second reason is to caution against the simplistic belief that all we have to do is get rid of illegal behaviour or even just bad practices. My term inappropriate covers a wider spectrum of charges which are legal but excessive and now arguably unsustainable. We should come out of this RC with those excess charges mostly flowing from our system of compulsory superannuation significantly reduced. This won t be achieved simply by the market or regulation sending superannuation money from profit-driven retail funds to industry funds. The latter might not need to generate a profit, but they ride on the same excessive fees. The consequence of the RC, therefore, must be to deprive the financial services sector of billions of dollars of income. I don t think anyone has thought much about the consequences of this loss of income. I m certainly not suggesting we stick with the established order. The entire financial system has been shown to be due a thorough cleansing. I d caution, though, against over-egging the degree of criminality. It s the old advice of a stuff up over a crime a combination of sloppy incompetence and a masters of the universe style arrogance. The critical point is the requirements and challenges of TERRY McCRANN the post-rc financial system. The post-rc system is now locked in. We will get more laws, more regulation and more regulators. Just how effective that will be remains to be seen. My point is about the postpost RC a financial system that has lost billions of dollars it used to take for granted. It s going to be dealt with, one or another, in various combinations of three things. There will be increased upfront and visible charges customers; and massive and oss-the-board reductions in h financial services employnt and incomes; and a nsequent reduction in the fitability of the sector. Those higher charges and t cuts and a likely major nsolidation of players will not be sufficient to sustain revenues and margins. We are not going to see the Commonwealth Bank again generate 20 per cent returns on equity, for example, in the foreseeable future. Further, this trauma is oing to happen quite irresective of and so without king any additional account the digital disruption that nly just beginning to shred ancial services revenues d, even more, profits. It also takes no account of n a normal slowdown in the nomy. And what if we have other GFC-style implosion? at would make life even more interesting.

29 The Australian, Australia Author: Monica Rule Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 23 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 4,065 Words: 468 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Steer clear of advice too good to be true MONICA RULE Be cautious of any advice that says you can start a retirement pension from your superannuation fund to avoid tax. The tax office may not approve of some superannuation schemes that do not comply with the income tax and superannuation laws. Take a situation where a selfmanaged superannuation fund member no longer wishes to manage their superannuation fund and wants to roll over the savings to either a retail super fund or an industry super fund. As most retail and industry super funds do not accept asset rollovers from another superannuation fund, SMSF members would need to sell their SMSF assets before rolling their cash super savings into these funds. This means the SMSF may incur capital gains tax on the sale of assets, which may result in a lesser amount of members super being rolled over. These SMSF members are being advised by some professionals to commence a pension from their SMSF just before the rollovers. This is so they can claim the income tax exemption on investment earnings from their SMSF assets and the capital gains tax exemption on the sale of their SMSF assets, before rolling over their superannuation to another fund. Most superannuation fund members are aware that once they commence a retirement pension from their super fund, their fund is entitled to claim the tax exemption on pension assets that are funding their pension. Whereas if a member decides to receive a lump sum superannuation benefit, the tax exemption is not available. What SMSF members may not be aware of is that in order to receive the tax exemption on pension assets, the pension assets must be used to support or fund pension payments. That means pension payments need to be made from their SMSF. The tax office has stated that a pension can be paid weekly, fortnightly, monthly or annually. A superannuation pension is a series of periodic payments made over an identifiable period of time, either at the same time or in recurring intervals. Whereas, a lump sum super benefit is normally made as a once-off payment. Of course, an SMSF may run into a situation where a pension recipient dies soon after starting their pension. In those situations, the minimum pension amount does not have to be paid from the SMSF if the deceased s pension was a non-reversionary pension and a lump sum death benefit is paid from the SMSF in the year of their death. If it is a reversionary pension, the minimum amount still needs to be paid in the year of death. SMSF members need to be vigilant in spotting advice that seems too good to be true. The recommended scheme may not comply with the law. Monica Rule is the author of The Self Managed Super Handbook Superannuation Law for SMSFs in Plain English.

30 Herald Sun, Melbourne Author: Jeff Whalley Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 303,140 Page: 5 Printed Size: cm² Market: VIC Country: Australia ASR: AUD 13,326 Words: 390 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Dodgy policy refund Car insurers to repay clients $120 million JEFF WHALLEY AUSTRALIANS sold useless vehicle insurance through car yards will be repaid $120 million, as pressure mounts for a further crackdown on insurers dodgy practices. The financial services royal commission yesterday heard of a mounting compensation bill for such add-on insurance, amid calls for the corporate regulator to be given greater powers to police conduct. Counsel assisting the commission Rowena Orr, QC, outlined problems faced by consumers, focusing on addon insurance sold in car yards. She said buyers getting a vehicle financed at a car yard often had insurance tied into the cost, often without knowing it or being eligible for it. Under this practice, the car yard owner gets a commission for selling the insurance, the insurer gets the premium, and the finance company gets a boost to its interest payments as the insurance is basically added to the principle. Ms Orr outlined a shopping list of some of the nation s largest insurers who had recently been caught out and were only now paying customers. She said Allianz would repay $45.6 million, to 68,000 customers, IAG-associated business Swann Insurance $39 million, Suncorp $17.2 million, and QBE $15.9 million. Ms Orr said the main forms of add on insurance were loan repayment insurance and guarantee asset protection insurance, covering the gap between what a buyer owed on a loan and what comprehensive insurance paid if a car was stolen or written off. Consumer Action Law Centre senior policy officer Susan Quinn said laws should be introduced to force car buyers to defer the decision to purchase insurance by seven days. A deferred sales model should break the of the pressure sales model, Ms Quinn told the Herald Sun, outside the commission. Ms Orr said the royal commission would also ask whether the corporate regulator needed more powers to police the nation s insurers. She said it would explore whether there is an appropriate balance between self-regulation and external regulation in the insurance industry. She said the Australian Securities and Investments Commission might need more power: In particular, is it appropriate that the handling of insurance claims is largely outside of ASIC s jurisdiction? Ms Orr said the inquiry would examine whether an unfair contracts terms regime applying to other consumer contracts should extend to insurance contracts. The commission hearing, in Melbourne, continues. jeff.whalley@news.com.au

31 The Australian, Australia Section: Editorials Article type : Editorial Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 13 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 3,859 Words: 378 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 FOR THE INFORMED AUSTRALIAN The trade union enterprise Too often, the interests of the membership come last In their self-righteous image, trade unions are a fragile shield of decency between brute corporate power and vulnerable workers at a time of income inequality and insecure jobs. The reality documented by a new Menzies Research Centre report is something altogether different. Unions represent an ever-shrinking minority in the workforce. They have more of a foothold in the public sector, where employees are far from powerless, enjoying job security and pay rises superior to those in the private sector. The Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union has bluecollar workers, of course, but does anyone think that union is powerless? The Ensuring Integrity Bill is before the parliament now because existing regulation is not equal to dealing with rogue unions and their officials. In the past 14 years, union revenues after inflation have risen 42 per cent, while membership in the private sector has fallen 41 per cent, according to the Menzies centre study. The biggest 15 unions have lifted combined annual revenues from $394 million to $748m between 2003 and last year. They have built a business model not hostage to declining membership dues, thanks to their privileged role in enterprise bargaining and compulsory superannuation. Their income sources include insurance, training, grants, investments and superannuation board fees and, unlike other corporate types, they pay no income tax. They have become a rent-seeking sectional interest, and this they have achieved within what they assail as an unfair workplace regime, never mind the fact it was put in place by Labor in The union business model makes conflict of interest inevitable. In 2004, the trade union royal commission was told, Bill Shorten s Australian Workers Union sold out the vulnerable workforce of Chiquita Mushrooms in a deal with the bosses that put money in union coffers. No wonder the AWU has lost many members, as we report today. Labor and the unions are too busy with political deals that deliver preselections and promise re-regulation of the workplace. With the ALP in power, collective bargaining would be restored, turning the clock to before Paul Keating s 1993 bargaining reform. Mr Shorten said it: As Labor leader, I still think like an organiser (for the union).

32 The Australian, Australia Author: Brad Norington Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 11 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 44,044 Words: 1799 Item ID: Page 1 of 3 BIG BUSINESS OF UNIONISM As membership declines, revenue and war chests are growing BRAD NORINGTON ASSOCIATE EDITOR The idea that Sally McManus sits at the top of a corporate structure mimicking the big end of town the chair of a board awash with cash and driven by self-interest would seem to contradict everything she promotes. Leading Australia s union movement, McManus rails against profits and power concentrated in the hands of few. She speaks the language of an activiststyle ACTU secretary, saying she wants to change the rules with laws that would swing the balance to workers and the unions that represent them. Her brand is to be hero of the low-paid and an enemy of greedy, unscrupulous bosses. She even has advocated breaking laws judged bad ones. But here lies the contradiction, or a fundamental disconnect with the working people McManus and the union movement claim to represent, according to John Slater of the Menzies Research Centre. At the time their membership has fallen to dire levels in the past two decades, suggesting an existential problem for unions, their wealth has surged to record levels. Unions now represent barely one in 10 workers of the private sector workforce. Overall, they represent about 14 per cent because of higher membership levels in the public sector (40 per cent). Yet, paradoxically, the revenue stream and asset base of the union movement is now so healthy that the richest unions in the nation rival some of the largest corporations and have returns better than those on the Australian Securities Exchange. The combined annual income of Australia s 15 largest unions exceeds that of companies such as the LJ Hooker and Ray White real estate groups. The income of one union, the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union, is considerably more than Fuji Xerox or Greyhound Australia, and is on a par with the Dyson Group. In a policy brief for Liberal Party think tank the Menzies Research Centre, Slater has collated data from annual reporting to the Registered Organisations Commission that confirms unions no longer rely on the dues of their members to survive. He concludes the link between a union s membership levels and its financial performance is weak, at best because unions now derive their income from other sundry sources: dividends, profits from insurance schemes, training course fees, superannuation and other board seat fees, grants, commissions, rents and investments. As Slater puts it, No members? No worries! The workplace relations system, in allowing unions to derive income from negotiated enterprise bargaining deals and superannuation funds that put officials on their boards, has provided those unions with long-term revenue sources independent of the people they represent. Unions have fireproofed their business model against further membership decline, as Slater says in his report, Unions Inc: From Industrial Strength to Financial Muscle. The model was set years ago by smart, strategically placed unions such as the Electrical Trades Union and the National Union of Workers, looking for ways to survive and prosper. As part of the institutionalised workplace system, they realised they could compel employers, during negotiations for enterprise agreements, to contribute to income protection or training funds from which they benefited financially. Menzies Research Centre executive director Nick Cater says the entrepreneurial instincts of modern unions are admirable in one sense. Yet the serious side to the reality that unions may no longer need to rely on union dues is that their focus has shifted entirely to a business model based on financial performance. At worst, Slater says, it resembles the corporations they like to criticise. Meanwhile, unions continue to operate as protected benevolent organisations, competing with the private sector while offering financial and other services yet paying no tax. Slater writes: The practice of trade unions negotiating collective agreements from which unions also financially benefit poses a clear conflict of interest. It means that in performing its role as a bargaining agent, a union is effectively caught between its own financial interests and carrying out its duty to negotiate in the best interests of workers. These arrangements are also an affront to the freedom of association of the workers covered by these enterprise agreements, having regard to the union movement s sizeable donations to the Labor Party. Slater challenges the core ACTU-McManus claim that unions look after the low-paid and those with insecure jobs, arguing the collapse in the traditional bluecollar industry base has left union membership predominantly the domain for wealthier, better educated, professional or managerial workers. The result, he says, is that unions have become a minority special interest group increasingly irrelevant to the wider workforce.

33 The Australian, Australia Author: Brad Norington Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 11 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 44,044 Words: 1799 Item ID: Page 2 of 3 Slater, the Menzies group s research director, says ACTU proposals to increase union influence over collective bargaining under a Labor government deserve scrutiny because the result will be to enable unions to monetise their privileged role still further. Who would benefit? It would not seem to be the shrinking union membership, at least not directly. Slater s research plays directly into the political dynamic as Scott Morrison takes a much more aggressive stance than his predecessor in taking the fight up to Labor Party leader Bill Shorten as allegedly beholden to an unrepresentative union movement, doing its bidding in return for large donations and political support. Morrison already has picked up one of Slater s themes that a primary beneficiary of the union movement s main cashflow transfers is the Labor Party, and to a lesser extent minor parties such as the Greens, at election time. The union donations come with a quid pro quo, an expectation that Labor will honour its promises to re-regulate the labour market and abolish the building industry s union watchdog, but without regard for what the majority viewpoint of the workforce might be. He s union-bred, union-fed and union-led, the Prime Minister said last week when the Opposition Leader declined to rebuke publicly CFMEU Victorian branch boss John Setka for using his children in an expletive-laden attack on the Australian Building and Construction Commission. He s completely owned by militant unions in this country, and that s how he proposed to run the country, Morrison said. He said he was going run the country like a union, so have a look at John Setka s union and you can see the future of Australia under a Bill Shorten-led government. A troubling associated development of the union business model, according to Slater s report, is the growing resort to lawfare as a means to achieve industrial goals. Or as Cater puts it in the report s introduction: It is particularly apparent in the construction sector, where law breaking has become an established part of the union modus operandi. Union leaders openly flout the law, becoming multi-offenders, racking up multi-millions of dollars in fines and legal costs, covered in full by their employers. Morrison appears ready to take up the fight against militants such as Setka. While his government may not be ready to tackle the thorny issues of the unions taxfree status or end other aspects of their protected position, Morrison has signalled a willingness to eradicate lawfare. In the past former Labor prime ministers Bob Hawke and Kevin Rudd have called for the CFMEU s deregistration as a way of punishing its disregard for the law and industrial norms in the workplace. When Hawke was prime minister, he deregistered the Builders Labourers Federation, but conditions existed then that do not now. Hawke had onside the ACTU, the then main construction union, the Building Workers Industrial Union, and the Labor governments of NSW and Victoria. Morrison lacks this co-operative environment and faces an ACTU leadership that has taken a determined shift to the left. He also is weighed down by advice that to deregister the CFMEU outright could penalise some by denying representation rights to workers who do not subscribe to Setka s brand of militancy and have no part of illegal behaviour. Morrison is likely to target Shorten s political reliance on Setka between now and the election. But his legislative strategy is likely to be tightly focused on seeking amendments to industrial laws that would disqualify individual union officials from remaining in their positions if they are found guilty of at least two civil breaches. McManus declined to comment on Slater s conclusions about unions corporate formula. She says Australia s workplace system fosters inequality because the weakening of centralised arbitration for pay rises and the lack of any requirement that employers bargain with unions gives big business too much power. McManus stands by this position even though the Fair Work Act she attacks as inequitable was introduced by Julia Gillard as prime minister and was overseen without amendment by Shorten when he was Gillard s workplace relations minister. Neither Tony Abbott nor Malcolm Turnbull as Coalition prime ministers have made any substantive changes. Slater says the ACTU s Change the Rules campaign s success in setting Labor s workplace relations policy agenda suggests its influence will be formative, at a minimum, if a Shorten government is in office after the election. Even based on the Labor Party s existing policy commitments, the differences on workplace relations policy between the two major parties at the next election will be the sharpest since 2007, Slater writes. The legal privileges and degree of institutionalised influence afforded to trade unions has emerged as a key flashpoint. The membership base of the union movement may continue dwindling but it seems the profits are guaranteed. A union is effectively caught between its own financial interests and carrying out its duty to negotiate in the best interests of workers JOHN SLATER MENZIES RESEARCH CENTRE

34 The Australian, Australia Author: Brad Norington Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 11 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 44,044 Words: 1799 Item ID: Page 3 of 3 STATE OF THE UNIONS Prime Minister Scott Morrison and ACTU secretary Sally McManus SIMON DALLINGER, AAP Australian union density: 1990 to 2016 Private sector union density % Major trade unions ranked according to growth in income Per cent Trade union income income increase income CEPU 19,483,100 72,364, ANMF 18,961,200 68,358, MUA 6,794,500 19,385, AEU 24,002, ,053, ARBTIU 10,987,900 22,929, NUW* 12,853, ,759, HSU 10,445, ,093, CFMEU 75,193, ,887, United Voice 35,222, ,589, ASU 22,468, ,308, SDAEA 34,701, ,512, CPSU 28,460, ,730, AWU 32,315,800 45,412, AMWU 41,829, ,340, TWU 20,317,300 24,656, Total 394,036, ,379, CFMEU Victorian secretary John Setka STUART McEVOY Growth in union income compared to change in membership size between 2003 and 2016/17 Per cent change in membership between 2003 and 2016 Per cent increase income between Trade union 2003 and 2016 CEPU decrease e ANMF increase MUA increase AEU increase ARBTIU decrease NUW* 93 *18.1 decrease HSU increase CFMEU increase United Voice decrease ASU decrease SDAEA decrease CPSU decrease AWU decrease AMWU decrease TWU decrease *earliest available data for NUW is 2008 Source: Menzies Research Centre

35 The Australian, Australia Author: Patricia Howard Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 22 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 6,329 Words: 646 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Young workers will be uninsured with opt-in PATRICIA HOWARD This week the insurance segment of the royal commission kicked off in Melbourne. We know already that direct insurance selling will be high on the agenda but hopefully the commission does not miss the biggest issue just now uninsured younger workers. The government is planning to change insurance laws so that if you are under 25 then life insurance will not be mandatory in super rather you can choose to opt-in. This means more than 1.4 million young Australian workers will lose valuable life insurance if the proposals go ahead, according to one of the country s largest life insurers, AIA. Damien Mu, chief executive of AIA Australia and New Zealand, says the government risks creating an insurance underclass. It s simply not the case young people don t require cover, or that they work exclusively in casual or part-time jobs. Of the 1.4 million young Australians directly affected, about 600,000 work full-time and almost half of these are bluecollar workers, Mr Mu said. They are among Australia s most vulnerable workers and they need the protection of affordable life insurance, which they can only access through group insurance within superannuation. AIA paid out $84 million on 1200 claims for members under 25 since Mental ill-health is the largest cause within this group for total and permanent disability claims, representing one in four, and is the thirdlargest claim on income protection, exceeded only by cancer and musculoskeletal conditions. The protecting your super proposals before parliament will stop superannuation funds automatically charging young workers for life insurance and limit insurance premiums on inactive accounts. Young workers will have to opt-in to obtain insurance or where balances are less than $6000 and where no contributions have been made in the past 13 months, all insurance will be cancelled. A key opponent is the industry fund Cbus, Australia s largest building industry fund. Cbus argues its members, who are mostly male, blue collar and young, will be hit hardest. The statistics are chilling. Cbus accepts a death claim in relation to members aged every 1.5 weeks, on average. It accepts 3.5 death claims a week for inactive members, where no contributions have been received in 13 months and 2.6 death claims a week for members with balances under $6000. Tragically, 14 per cent of all death claims from members under 25 relate to suicide with a further 32 per cent suspected to be suicide-related. Our members tend to start full-time work at a younger age, and most assume financial responsibilities for others from age 21, Cbus spokesman Robbie Campo says. Many members work in hazardous areas and while they require insurance, they are unlikely to access it outside group insurance. AIA s Mr Mu said opt-in sounded great but history showed only about 2 per cent of those affected will voluntarily seek insurance. This is my big concern. We are removing cover from those who really need it but who don t know it, Mr Mu said. The Association of Financial Advisers also believes the government is wrongly assuming young people don t need life insurance. For example, 14 per cent of all births in 2016 were to mothers under 25 and 8 per cent to fathers under 25. What happens to the surviving spouse and the children of people who die or have a TPD event, who are under 25 and have no insurance? asks Phil Anderson, AFA s general manager policy and professionalism. We support super balances not being eroded by unwanted insurance but the best way to address this, is to remove duplicate superannuation accounts. A typical Australian, across a 40-year working life, will have a one-in-four chance of claiming income protection due to a temporary disability or medical condition, according to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia. Patricia Howard is a financial planner and author of the soon to be published book Making It Last: Living off your investments

36 Herald Sun, Melbourne Author: Terry McCrann Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 303,140 Page: 22 Printed Size: cm² Market: VIC Country: Australia ASR: AUD 20,045 Words: 748 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 TERRY McCRANN The trauma at the end of the RC line THE single biggest overarching message that has come out of the banking royal commission is that the financial sector has been getting inappropriate income which has run and continues to run into the billions of dollars every year. Yesterday, and for the next two weeks, it was/will be a case of here we go again, as the inappropriate income which has flowed from customers to insurance companies will be detailed in agonising and often, entirely appropriately, embarrassing detail. These customers of insurance companies join those of banks for consumer and small-business loans, those in the financial advisory chain, of superannuation more broadly, along with farmers and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, of all shown to have been paying money they should not have. Now I used the word inappropriate very deliberately and for two reasons. The first is that the payments cover a very wide spectrum of behaviour from outright fraud to overcharging, whether deliberately and wrongly, or through bureaucratic mistake, or legitimately but not appropriately, to just plain entirely legal overcharging. The second is to caution against the simplistic belief that all we have to do, in the wake of the RC, is to just get rid of illegal or even the broader bad practices behaviour. My term inappropriate actually covers a much wider spectrum of charges that are paid by consumers charges which are entirely legal but were nevertheless unnecessarily excessive and are now arguably unsustainable. We should come out of this RC with those excess charges, mostly flowing from our system of compulsory superannuation, significantly reduced, just as much as those practices which generated income that were unambiguously illegal or unwarranted. Furthermore, this wouldn t be achieved simply by either the market or regulation sending superannuation money from the profit-driven retail funds to the industry funds. Yes, the latter might not need to generate a profit, but they ride on exactly the same excessive fees that permeate the investment and fundsmanagement industries. The central, systemic, consequence of the RC, therefore, is going to be must be to deprive the financial-services sector of billions of dollars of income every year. IDON T think anyone has really thought much about the widespread and necessarily traumatic consequences of such a loss of income, which cannot be simply replaced by appropriate charges. The idea that banks, insurance companies, superannuation funds etc and their customers would all live happily ever after on fees structures that were ethical and appropriate really just does not wash. I m certainly not suggesting we stick with the established

37 Herald Sun, Melbourne Author: Terry McCrann Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 303,140 Page: 22 Printed Size: cm² Market: VIC Country: Australia ASR: AUD 20,045 Words: 748 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 order: the entire financial system has been shown to be due a thorough cleansing. I would caution, though, against over-egging the degree of deliberate criminality. Once again, the old advice of a stuff-up over a crime, is more indicative united with a combination of sloppy rather everyday incompetence and a masters of the universe-style arrogance. The critical point I want to highlight is that of the requirements and challenges of the post-post RC financial system. The post-rc system is now locked in the evidence of the RC. We will get more laws, more regulation and more regulators. Just how effective that will be remains of course to be seen, and not just over years but decades. My point is about the postpost RC a financial system which has lost billions of dollars of income that it used to take for granted. Very broadly it s going to be dealt with, one way or another, by deliberate action or by default, efficiently or messily, in various combinations of three things. They will be increased upfront and visible charges to customers and massive and across-the-board reductions in both financial-services employment and incomes. The third is a consequent reduction in the profitability of the sector. Those higher specific charges and cost cuts and a likely major consolidation of players will not be sufficient to sustain revenues and margins. We are not going to see the Commonwealth Bank again generate 20 per cent returns on equity, for example, in the foreseeable future and in this context, the future is foreseeable in decades. Further, this trauma is going to happen quite irrespective of and so without taking any additional account of the digital disruption which is only just beginning to shred financial-services revenues and even more profits. It also takes no account of even a normal slowdown in the economy. And another GFC-style implosion: that would make life even more interesting?

38 The Australian, Australia Author: Michael Roddan Elizabeth Redman Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 1 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 13,995 Words: 1088 Item ID: Page 1 of 3 $6bn commissions in crosshairs MICHAEL RODDAN ELIZABETH REDMAN The financial services royal commission has put more than $6 billion worth of commissions in the crosshairs as Kenneth Hayne s inquiry uncovered sales tactics behind the scandal-ridden life insurance industry. A list of bad conduct by the 10 largest life insurers in Australia was fuelled by billions of dollars of commissions for financial advisers over the past five years, as the commission detailed legal loopholes that left the corporate watchdog unable to tackle poor behaviour amid failed attempts by the industry to self-regulate. Life insurer ClearView Wealth yesterday confessed to breaking anti-hawking laws more than 300,000 times in breaches that carry potential criminal charges, as it was grilled over sales pitches that targeted poorer Australians. BUSINESS P17 ROYAL COMMISSION TARGETS SALES TACTICS Life insurers $6bn fee grab in crosshairs FINANCIAL SERVICES ROYAL COMMISSION MICHAEL RODDAN ELIZABETH REDMAN The financial services royal commission has put more than $6 billion worth of commissions in the crosshairs as Kenneth Hayne s inquiry uncovers pushy sales tactics in the scandal-ridden life insurance industry. Bad conduct by the 10 largest life insurers in Australia was fuelled by billions of dollars of lucrative commissions for financial advisers over the past five years. The royal commission has detailed legal loopholes that left the corporate watchdog unable to tackle poor behaviour and a history of failed attempts by the industry to self-regulate. Independent life insurer ClearView Wealth yesterday confessed to breaking anti-hawking laws more than 300,000 times in breaches that carry potential criminal charges, as it was put under the griller for cold-calling sales pitches that targeted sick and poor Australians with inferior policies they could not afford and on which they rarely claimed. Opening the sixth round of hearings for the royal commission yesterday, senior counsel assisting, Rowena Orr QC, delivered a lengthy list of transgressions confessed to by the country s largest insurers, including the use of outof-date medical definitions, a pushy sales culture hawking questionable policies, unsolicited and misleading sales calls and secret surveillance that further damaged claimants mental health. The renewed focus on commissions paid to financial advisers, who in the case of AMP were found to be cancelling and then signing up customers to the same products to win the largest possible bonuses, comes after previous bombshell evidence centred on the skyrocketing $850 million compensation bill for fees charged by financial institutions where no service was provided, including fees charged to dead people. Exploitative practices such as misleading advertising and cold calling were identified by the Consumer Action Legal Centre as problems affecting the di-

39 The Australian, Australia Author: Michael Roddan Elizabeth Redman Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 1 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 13,995 Words: 1088 Item ID: Page 2 of 3 rect, or outbound, life insurance model, Ms Orr said. Customers making claims could also suffer claims fatigue or claims shock when dealing with seemingly endless bureaucracy to make a claim, or when their policy fell short of expectations, she added. The hearing came as the powerful House of Representatives economics committee blasted the Australian Securities & Investments Commission for failing to punish financial companies and for too quickly opting for enforceable undertakings rather than legal action. Australians expect the big banks and others to fear their regulator, said Sarah Henderson MP, who chairs the committee. While new laws have clamped down on the amounts life insurers can pay in upfront and trail commissions now 80 per cent for upfront commissions, falling to 60 per cent in the next two years Ms Orr rung out more than $6bn in commissions paid by some of the country s largest institutions. This included $1.16 billion paid by National Australia Bank s Continued on Page 21 WEALTH P22 RICHARD GLUYAS P29 Commissions on life insurance sales* $m AMP ANZ s OnePath CBA NAB s MLC Suncorp Westpac *Last 5 years Source: Banking royal commission

40 The Australian, Australia Author: Michael Roddan Elizabeth Redman Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 1 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 13,995 Words: 1088 Item ID: Page 3 of 3 Hayne takes aim at life insurance commissions Continued from Page 17 MLC division, and $830 million by ANZ s for-sale OnePath superannuation business. AMP had shelled out $380m of bonuses to advisers while Commonwealth Bank paid $460m. Westpac, which allowed its financial advisers to only sell its own BT Financial-branded products, paid out $640m on commissions and a separate $112m in payments that were grandfathered after the 2013 Future of Financial Advice reforms. Suncorp, which like Westpac only gave advisers its own policies to sell on its so-called approved products list, paid out $590m in commissions. AIA Group and TAL, the country s two largest group insurers, which now sell a large volume of policies through superannuation, doled out $690m and $840m in commissions. As the cap on upfront commissions continues to reduce over the next few years, it remains to be seen whether this will be reflected in the premiums paid by customers, Ms Orr said. The most explosive revelations came after ClearView chief actuary and risk officer Gregory Martin admitted to more than 300,000 potentially criminal breaches of anti-hawking laws after customers were cold-called without opting in or were not provided with a product disclosure statement. The royal commission heard that after it took over the life insurance business from health insurer BUPA, ClearView used remuneration incentives of bonuses up to $8000 a fortnight to drive sales staff to sell as many policies as possible, including a plan to target poorer Australians. The strategy fired, with large swathes of customers cancelling the Your Insurebranded policies that were sold to them or letting the insurance lapse when they could not afford the cover. The intention of ClearView is not to offer rubbish products to the market, Mr Martin said. If we had our time again we wouldn t do that business. Mr Martin will return to the witness stand this morning, followed by Grant Stewart, expected to be a consumer witness, and Freedom Insurance chief operating officer Craig Orton. Shares in the listed Freedom Insurance have fallen more than 50 per cent since it was named as a royal commission case study and ASIC banned the business model responsible for 90 per cent of its revenue: high-pressure outbound sales centres. Ahead of the public hearings, life insurers confessed to a litany of misconduct or conduct falling below community expectations. Freedom Insurance admitted its representatives may have breached anti-hawking laws, some of its customers had tried to cancel policies and yet were still charged premiums, and some customers complained that they had not agreed to direct debits. AMP admitted to possible misconduct a qualifier that was heavily stressed by Ms Orr in churning life insurance customers by cancelling policies and setting up new ones. CBA admitted to rejecting claims with out-of-date medical definitions, which led to $4m in payouts to more than 30 customers. Suncorp admitted to surveillance that made a claimant s mental health worse, and said it would remediate customers $17.2m for add-on insurance through car dealers, while Westpac didn t properly refund customers or charge them the right fees.

41 The Australian, Australia Author: Eli Greenblat Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 20 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 6,869 Words: 699 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Bega s money not for Capilano Honey: Irvin ELI GREENBLAT AGRIBUSINESS Bega Cheese executive chairman Barry Irvin is adamant the dairy group is not about to launch a $200 million counter takeover bid for Capilano Honey. The denial comes despite the company yesterday triggering a capital raising for a similar amount to strengthen its balance sheet and give it the financial muscle to react to any opportunities in the food sector. A scheme booklet from Capilano s current and only takeover suitor, a consortium made up of Australian-Chinese private equity fund Wattle Hill, led by Albert Tse and ROC Partners investment fund, is believed to have been sent to the corporate regulator before it goes to shareholders. Advisers to Bega are hopeful the fact that Capilano is trading at almost $22 a share, well above the $20.06-a-share offer thrown down by the bidders, will make it difficult for the independent expert to label the bid fair, providing some wiggle room for shareholders to reject the offer and consider a rival offer possibly from Bega. However, when looking over the scheme booklet the Australian Securities & Investments Commission can also consider the fact the private equity suitor is bidding for the entire company, not just a controlling stake. And it remains the only takeover offer on the table, for now. Mr Irvin told The Australian yesterday the dairy group was looking to raise more than $200m from investors to strengthen its balance sheet but no decision had been made on making a similarly priced takeover bid for Capilano, the nation s largest honey producer. Shares in Bega were placed in a trading halt yesterday in preparation for the capital raising and share purchase plan, and immediately set tongues wagging in the markets that Bega was about to use its recently amassed 8.4 per cent stake in Capilano and the fresh funds to kick off a takeover battle for Capilano. However, Mr Irvin is playing his cards close to his chest and would only divulge that today s capital raising was related to improving Bega s balance sheet and winding down its debt levels in the wake of its recent purchase of global dairy giant Saputo s Koroit factory in regional Victoria for $250m. It s a placement of $200m plus an SPP, and obviously it is a consequence of, or, it restores our balance sheet in a position of strength, which is what we always do, following the acquisition of Koroit, and that is really the core of the story, Mr Irvin said. Indeed, we have made no decisions at all on Capilano. Mr Irvin said he wanted to bring down the gearing for Bega to three times EBITDA, and this had blown out a bit since the Koroit deal and the purchase last year of the local Mondelez food business for $460m to gain control of its Vegemite and peanut butter brands. However, signalling perhaps a lurch for Capilano might not be too far away, Mr Irvin said he wanted to keep Bega s balance sheet in shape to prepare for opportunities in the market. We have always got really good support of our banks, but the dairy industry and the food industry always is throwing up opportunities and we have always looked to keep the balance sheet pretty strong and we are basically conservative in our approach to that, he said. We weren t necessarily concerned (with our debt levels) except to say that in terms of just where we want that balance sheet to be running so we can be, I guess, agile and able to respond to opportunities. Bega has bought into the looming takeover battle for Capilano after grabbing a stake in the listed honey producer last week. It was prodded into action last month when a bid was made by Mr Tse, and ROC Partners investment fund, which is ed by Australian superannuation groups. One of the largest shareholders in Capilano is a fund ed by media mogul and billionaire Kerry Stokes that is supporting the takeover offer and will take scrip in the new private equityowned honey venture. But Mr Tse and his partners could have a fight on their hands if Bega throws down a higher bid, which some believe could be about $21 a share Jun Barry Irvin Jul Bega Cheese was in a trading halt at $7.58 Aug Source: Bloomberg

42 The Australian, Australia Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 29 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 3,319 Words: 415 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Kudos for NAB Andrew battery man Thorburn has put on an all-singing, all-dancing show to draw a line in the sand around home loan rates, which has the potential to actually change customer attitudes to the banks. The NAB chief rightly noted one action alone will not do the trick but can also rightly be said to be amassing a tidy package of procustomer reforms. At the same time, Thorburn has landed in court to answer a writ from ASIC about alleged false and misleading statements by MLC, and of course the royal commission rolls on. Prime Minister Scott Morrison, when asked last year about the impact of a levy on bank earnings, responded: Cry me a river for the big banks. In short, NAB and the other banks are not exactly flavour of the month on Main Street or in Canberra. The kneejerk reaction to Thorburn s show was that it was a typical PR move from NAB. At 5.24 per cent, NAB has the lowest home loan in the market, a full 12 basis points below ANZ and 14 points below Westpac, which is charging 5.38 per cent. Funding costs are real and Westpac claimed their increase had cost it $400m so, rather than bend a little to help customers, its chief Brian Hartzer opted to protect his profit. NAB booked a return on equity of 11.4 per cent in the last half, with a profit of $2.6bn, and Thorburn has decided he can wear an additional $150m or so in costs. Cross-town rival ANZ did the exact opposite and actually lifted rates by more than the funding costs to boost its bottom line. Bragging time for the banks is when they report their financial numbers and clearly, come September, Thorburn will not look as smart as the other banks. That s the way the market took it yesterday, marking down NAB more than the other banks. But the real test is over the longer term and full marks to Thorburn for actually bending towards his customers. The other banks might say NAB was taking such a hiding before the regulators it had no choice, but that is wrong. The big bank lemming theory dictated he just follow Brian Hartzer, Shayne Elliott et al to make his bottom line look better. Thorburn did something different, took a risk and is betting not this year s results, but maybe his numbers in two years look better because he has shown himself more attuned to his customers than his rivals.

43 The Australian, Australia Author: Cliona O'Dowd Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 2 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 3,576 Words: 340 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 ASIC s banks penalties fall short: committee CLIONA O DOWD A parliamentary committee has blasted the corporate regulator for letting the big banks off scotfree and neglecting to crack down on systemic failings in the financial system. In its review of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission s 2017 annual report, the House of Representatives standing committee on economics cited shocking examples of misconduct exposed by the banking royal commission and criticised the regulator for not being tough enough and relying too much on enforceable undertakings. Evidence provided to the royal commission has exposed parts of the financial sector as having a corporate culture motivated by greed and lacking in moral leadership, the committee concluded. However, evidence of systemic failings also places the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) in the spotlight because it is the regulator responsible for promoting investor and financial consumer trust and confidence, and ensuring fair, orderly and transparent markets. The royal commission has uncovered a litany of scandals, including banks charging clients in some cases dead clients fees for no service, failing to report breaches to the regulator and trying to deceive the regulator. ASIC needs to be tougher, the committee said in its review. Australians expect the big banks and others to fear their regulator. There have been too many examples where ASIC has not adequately penalised those it regulates. The heavy reliance on enforceable undertakings, for example, rather than seeking courtimposed penalties, has not met community expectations. ASIC has defended its actions against the banks at the royal commission hearings. The government announced last month it would expand ASIC s powers by providing it with an additional $70 million to embed the regulator s staff in financial institutions in a bid to keep them in check. The committee, in which Victorian MP Julia Banks was a member, said it would continue to scrutinise ASIC s performance in relation to the new banking and financial services regulations and initiatives flagged by the government and that it supported the regulator s call to restore trust, eliminate conflicts of interest and raise standards of professionalism in Australia s financial services industry.

44 The Australian, Australia Author: Michael Roddan Elizabeth Redman Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 2 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 5,017 Words: 477 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Sack them all, says insurance boss MICHAEL RODDAN ELIZABETH REDMAN FINANCIAL SERVICES ROYAL COMMISSION ClearView chief risk officer Greg Martin called for his employees to be sacked after lashing the ASXlisted life insurer s full-on sales culture without much regard for customers and admitting it had breached criminal anti-hawking laws more than 300,000 times. The royal commission heard that ClearView, which continues to be in the sights of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission over systemic failures in complying with laws designed to prevent spruikers forcing unwanted policies on customers, ran an outbound call centre where as much as 40 per cent of calls were non-compliant and targeted poor Australians with unnecessary policies. Senior counsel assisting the commission, Rowena Orr QC, kicked off the inquiry s probe into the life insurance sector yesterday by detailing a stream of admissions of misconduct from the largest companies in the industry, pinning a key driver of unethical behaviour on the $6 billion worth of commissions paid to financial Martin advisers over the five years to last year. Mr Martin, also chief actuary at the Sydney-based ClearView, was the first executive to be questioned at the royal commission s fortnight of hearings. He told the inquiry his company had breached anti-hawking laws in the Corporations Act up to 300,000 times for unsolicited and pestering sales of life insurance policies over a three-year period. This reflects a culture within ClearView Direct that was a fullon sales culture without much regard for customers, he said. It s just yes sack them, he said. The commission heard that after it took over the life insurance business from health insurer Bupa, ClearView used remuneration incentives of bonuses of up to $8000 a fortnight to drive sales staff to sell as many policies as possible, including through a plan to target poorer Australians. The strategy fired, with large swaths of customers cancelling the Your Insure-branded policies sold to them or letting the insurance lapse. It was poorer people that were being targeted by Your Insure? Ms Orr asked. Mr Martin responded: I emphasise it was poorer, not poorest. You can t build a business on that. It was not meant to go down to the lowest or particularly low (socio-economic customers, but) we were concerned that that may be where it was finding itself. Internal documents showed ClearView s plan to pivot from selling limited value policies to low socio-economic segments to top end products for more affluent customers. Mr Martin estimated the company s breaches of the law at 10,000 or 12,000 times, but letters and documents shown to the commission revealed ClearView found more than 300,000 instances where it couldn t tell whether it was complying with the law. Opposition financial services spokeswoman Clare O Neil said following the revelations: Some people targeted by this conduct included vulnerable, low-income Australians. It is an enormous, appalling breach and yet another example of sickening misconduct in the financial services sector. BUSINESS P17

45 The Australian, Australia Author: Troy Bramston Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 12 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 8,464 Words: 874 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 CALLING TIME ON ROGUE UNIONISTS The case for taking on the militant CFMEU could not be more persuasive TROY BRAMSTON SENIOR WRITER It is encouraging that Scott Morrison has threatened to deregister the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union, but why has it taken so long for the Coalition to take on these rogue militants? The enlarged CFMEU was created on the Coalition s watch with nothing done to stop it. This union has been lashed by judges who say it has only contempt for the law. Its law-breaking officials have racked up millions of dollars in fines, brushed off as the cost of doing business. Its thuggish behaviour has been tolerated by the Coalition government, and its Labor predecessor, for far too long. The Prime Minister has flagged reviving the government s Ensuring Integrity Bill. This legislation would mean union officials, such as Victorian construction boss John Setka, would be disqualified if they are not deemed fit and proper. This same legislation could have stopped the formation of the mega CFMEU by introducing a public interest test for such mergers. It also would give government a greater capacity to deregister unions. The case against the CFMEU behemoth about 150,000 members, $300 million in assets and $150m in annual revenue is a slam dunk. The CFMEU has been fined about $16m since 2005 and dozens of its officials are subject to further legal proceedings. Judge after judge has described the CFMEU as a law unto itself. Encouraged by the ACTU, it decides which laws to follow and which to break. Yet the Coalition hardly lifted a finger to see the Ensuring Integrity Bill passed by the Senate. Worse, it withdrew the bill before the vote. Craig Laundy, workplace minister at the time, did not win crossbench support for the bill so he gave up. There was no sustained public campaign for the bill and no real pressure applied to Labor to support it. Neither was Laundy s predecessor, Michaelia Cash, keen to take on the CFMEU. Where was the Federal Court action or special legislation to force deregistration of its predecessor? Why did the Coalition do nothing to stop the CFMEU merging with the Maritime Union and the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union? Workplace relations policy was once a priority for Coalition governments. Sure, the present government established a royal commission into unions, reinstated the construction watchdog and introduced new requirements for registered organisations, but there has been little appetite for wider reform, let alone taking on the unions. The next election will be a turning point for workplace relations. The campaign by the ACTU to change the rules has been effectively adopted by Labor. The changes they seek are sweeping and will have profound implications. The unions want to roll Australia s industrial architecture to the 1970s. Unions will push their blueprint to be enshrined in Labor s platform at December s national conference. This will include removing impediments to the right to strike, relaxing workplace entry laws for union officials, introducing criminal penalties for wage theft and industrial manslaughter, and lifting restrictions on pattern bargaining and secondary boycotts. The conference also will confirm Labor s policy of reinstating weekend penalty rates and extending leave entitlements to include domestic violence, bereavement and on compassionate grounds. Unions also want casual workers to be made permanent automatically after six months and be paid superannuation. The ACTU themes this as addressing inequality. It asks voters to join its crusade to deliver greater job security and increase stagnant wages. The principal means for delivering this is an empowerment of unions in workplaces. We need to change the rules to give all working people the basic rights

46 The Australian, Australia Author: Troy Bramston Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 12 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 8,464 Words: 874 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 they need to improve their living standards, the ACTU says. Labor says labour market reform is a key tool in the fight against inequality. The party is committed to increasing the bargaining power of workers (unions) and the capacity of the independent umpire to intervene in workplaces. Opposition workplace relations spokesman Brendan O Connor has a detailed plan for reform in development. The upshot is the Rudd-Gillard government s Fair Work legislation lives under a Morrison government but it will be dead under a Shorten government. New Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O Dwyer has not foreshadowed whether she wants to overhaul the present system or will go to the election defending it but, to be fair, she has adopted the role only recently. While unions represent just 9.3 per cent of workers in the private sector, they probably have never been more influential in politics. It is scandalous that the CFMEU continues to be affiliated to Labor and has a say over policy, candidates and personnel. Many Labor MPs are appalled by its behaviour but fear taking it on. In 2015, Bob Hawke told me he would not hesitate to deregister the CFMEU given its behaviour. In 1986, the Hawke government deregistered the Building Labourers Federation, its forerunner. Last year, Kevin Rudd told me he agreed with Hawke So what is the Coalition waiting for? The case for taking on the CFMEU could not be more persuasive. Two former Labor prime ministers have a stronger position on the rogue union than did the previous two Liberal prime ministers, Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott. It remains to be seen whether Morrison will his rhetoric with action.

47 The Australian, Australia Author: Adam Creighton Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 12 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 8,901 Words: 942 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 VOLUNTARY SUPER IDEA DERIDED, BUT THINK IT THROUGH The benefits of our compulsory retirement savings system are overstated or unproven ADAM CREIGHTON ECONOMICS EDITOR Former prime minister Paul Keating came out swinging last week after I wrote a column suggesting the idea of voluntary superannuation had so much going for it: higher wages, more choice, lower taxes, reduced financial parasitism and weakened vested interests. Notable commentators Alan Kohler and Terry McCrann saw merit in the idea, which was also popular with our readers. Keating, though, one of the architects of superannuation, said it would be a national tragedy if a system that had transformed the Australian economy and was envied by the rest of the world were dismantled. It certainly has transformed the living standards and job security of the financial services sector, which is bigger in Australia as a share of the economy than any other developed country. Who could doubt that it is envied by anyone working in financial services what could be better than being able to manage 9.5 per cent of the people s earnings, especially those whose low financial literacy guarantees they pay little attention to why you charge them? On the only occasion citizens were given a chance to vote on something similar to the Australian system, in New Zealand in 1997, more than 90 per cent of people voted against it. Another foreigner, Nicholas Morris, a Brit, has just written a book warning other countries to avoid it: Management and Regulation of Pension Schemes: Australia A Cautionary Tale. So, at the very least, there s no global consensus. Given top billing in The Australian Financial Review s Chanticleer column last week, Keating said voluntary super would be destroying an irreplaceable national asset, largely for ideological reasons. Ideology has nothing to do with whether superannuation costs the government money, or not in the long run. Keating is right that union-influenced industry funds have performed better than their retail rivals. But this tiresome debate between two powerful vested interests misses the more important question of whether either group should have claim to a slice of the national wage bill. The question is whether the value of the super tax concessions, of which the two biggest were $34.6 billion last year, are worth it. The Henry tax review almost a decade ago suggested the foreseeable saving in age pension outlay was much lower than that. In 2013, the report A Super Charter: Fewer Changes, Better Outcomes, sent to former treasurer Chris Bowen, also seemed to agree. Chanticleer itself worried that bosses wouldn t hand over the 9.5 per cent under a voluntary super arrangement. But why would they care whether they sent the cheque to a super fund or their employees? The existing default arrangement to withhold 9.5 per cent would remain. In any case, for 1.5 million self-employed workers, super is already voluntary. Conversion to a voluntary arrangement would be simple. The new Morrison government could keep the entire extraordinary complexity of superannuation in place except for one thing. There d be a short online form employees could fill out, print and give to employers requesting some or all of their superannuation be paid as wage or salary. It would be quite exciting for lower-income workers in particular. As one former Treasury secretary pointed out to me, the potential increase in pay would be nearer 10.5 per cent, not 9.5 per cent. That s because employers are obliged to pay 9.5 per cent of the total remuneration as superannuation. You can do the maths. I called on experts this week trying to find flaws in my proposal. Geoff Carmody, a co-founder of Access Economics and former senior Treasury official, said the argument that super boosted national savings one of the industry s favourites was a complete furphy. At the end of day, people with compulsory super will draw it down; as the population ages, people will be dis-saving the stock of savings during their working lives, he said. By the way, the latest set of national accounts show households savings fell to 1 per cent of disposable income in June, the lowest rate in a decade. Former New Zealand prime minister Bill English, referencing compulsory super, recently pointed out that Australian households were far more indebted than those in New Zealand. It s almost as if people are vaguely aware of their super and

48 The Australian, Australia Author: Adam Creighton Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 12 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 8,901 Words: 942 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 accumulate debts to offset it. Carmody agreed the value of superannuation tax concessions outweighed the savings in Age Pension payments. An age pension for all is a cheaper, fairer, simpler and more efficient option than the present means-tested Age Pension plus compulsory super/tax concessions mess, and the interminable fiddling thereof, he said. Is it conservative to want voluntary super? I m not sure. It is certainly a way you can help those on lower incomes and who receive little of the tax concessions. The 2014 financial system inquiry found about 55 per cent of the value of superannuation tax concessions flow to the top 20 per cent of households ranked by income. For them, super is likely to be a modest lump sum at age 60 that goes towards paying off the mortgage or a big holiday before going on the pension. The bulk of people will never be able to save enough in a lifetime to match the annuity value of the Age Pension. Indeed, higher income earners would be mad to elect to have their super upfront. It makes you wonder if superannuation was in fact a way to lower the top marginal tax rate without enduring the political pain of doing so explicitly. So, by all means, let s keep spouting unverifiable platitudes about how great mandatory super is. But we do not have to believe them.

49 Adelaide Advertiser, Adelaide Author: Michael Roddan Elizabeth Redman Section: Business Journal Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 112,097 Page: 43 Printed Size: cm² Market: SA Country: Australia ASR: AUD 5,920 Words: 423 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 Mountain of alleged misdeeds detailed MICHAEL RODDAN ELIZABETH REDMAN THE royal commission has painfully detailed an almost endless chit list of misdemeanours by the country s scandalridden life insurance sector, including more than $6 billion of commissions for advisers in five years, out-of-date medical definitions, pushy sales culture, unsolicited and misleading sales calls and secret surveillance that further deteriorated claimants mental health. Amid the mountain of alleged misconduct, counsel assisting the royal commission Rowena Orr, QC, told the hearing more than $6 billion in lucrative commissions had been paid to financial advisers for the sale of life insurance over the last five years by just 10 companies. This included $1.16 billion for National Australia Bank s MLC business, almost $500 million by Commonwealth Bank, nearly $600m by Suncorp, $750m by Westpac, $700m for Hong Kong-based AIA Group, $330m for ANZ s OnePath business, $400m for wealth manager AMP and $840m for Japan s TAL. The commissions come even despite a push through the Future of Financial Advice laws in 2013 to crack down on commissions. Until January 1 this year commissions for life risk products were exempt from the ban on conflicted remuneration, so insurers could continue to pay financial advisers upfront and trail commission. The proceedings for the inquiry s sixth round of hearings in Melbourne s Federal Court yesterday opened with detailed admissions of misconduct and conduct falling below community expectations made by the industry ahead of the public grilling of executives. Exploitative practices such as misleading advertising and cold calling were identified by the Consumer Action Legal Centre as problems affecting the direct, or outbound, life insurance model, Ms Orr said. Moreover, customers making claims could also suffer claims fatigue or claims shock when dealing with seemingly endless bureaucracy to make a claim or when their policy falls short of expectations, Ms Orr said. Ms Orr also foreshadowed the likely areas of overhaul for the sector, which included the current exemption for life insurance claims from laws that require companies provide services efficiently, honestly, and fairly and the failure of the industry s self-regulation through the General Insurance code of conduct and the Life Insurance code of conduct. Ms Orr asked whether it s appropriate that the handling of insurance claims is largely outside of the jurisdiction of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, whether the unfair contracts regime should apply to insurance contracts and whether the insurance codes of practice should be treated like a similar code for banks. -THE AUSTRALIAN

50 Adelaide Advertiser, Adelaide Author: Michael Roddan Elizabeth Redman Section: Business Journal Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 112,097 Page: 43 Printed Size: cm² Market: SA Country: Australia ASR: AUD 5,920 Words: 423 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 PAINFUL DETAILS: Royal Commission into the Financial Services Industry senior counsel Rowena Orr, centre, with Mark Costello, left and Eloise Dais. Picture: EDDIE JIM

51 Adelaide Advertiser, Adelaide Section: Letters Article type : Letter Classification : Capital City Daily : 112,097 Page: 16 Printed Size: 43.00cm² Market: SA Country: Australia ASR: AUD 640 Words: 110 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Super idea FULL marks to SA Best s Connie Bonaros for putting forward a Bill that would allow state public sector employees choice of fund for their superannuation guarantee contributions ( Super push for public servants, The Advertiser, yesterday). In this superannuation matter, as in several others, SA is the land of the living dinosaurs. Public-sector employees should have had choice of fund for super guarantee contributions years ago. Ms Bonaros knows most public servants will stick with their fund of compulsion, even if they have choice of fund, but she is also right to push for them to have that choice. We need more like her in our Parliament. RAY HICKMAN, Modbury

52 Herald Sun, Melbourne Author: Jeff Whalley Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 303,140 Page: 22 Printed Size: cm² Market: VIC Country: Australia ASR: AUD 56,525 Words: 635 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 Insurer s cold comfort We broke the law, ClearView admits JEFF WHALLEY FINANCIAL SERVICES LIFE insurer ClearView Wealth has conceded it broke criminal laws up to 303,000 times in its efforts to hawk insurance by cold calling Australian consumers. And major finance companies lavished more than $6 billion worth of commissions over five years on financial advisers who directed life insurance customers their way, the banking royal commission has heard. The revelations yesterday came in another day of startling testimony as the sixth round of hearings started in Melbourne, this time focusing on misconduct in the insurance industry. Counsel assisting the commission Rowena Orr, QC, said the life insurance sector would come under scrutiny this week before the focus swung to general insurance next week. Ms Orr yesterday shone a light on ClearView and detailed its lengthy talks with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which two years ago discovered a raft of problems with the company s call centres. ClearView had purchased lists of contact details for Australian consumers, she said, then staff cold called those people telephoning without invitation to pitch its insurance policies. But the company failed to meet the legal requirements for cold calling prospective customers, the commission heard. Under Australia s anti-hawking laws, life insurers need to jump a series of hurdles to sell products to consumers through a cold call. Among them, they are obliged to provide would-be customers with product disclosure statements before a sale. They are also obliged to offer consumers the option of joining the do-not-call register. Companies are theoretically barred from cold calling consumers on the register. Questioning ClearView chief risk officer Gregory Martin, Ms Orr said: ASIC wanted an explanation from ClearView on how ClearView satisfied itself of the various requirements of the anti-hawking provisions. Do you remember ASIC saying to you that... they needed to know the extent of the possible contraventions so that they may form a view on what regulatory outcome they (wanted)? Mr Martin accepted there were between 300,000 and 303,000 breaches over the three-year period in question. Breaches are criminal offences. We just got that wrong. We made a mistake, Mr Martin told the commission. ClearView, which also provides financial advice and wealth management services, shuttered its life insurance call centre after ASIC raised its con-

53 Herald Sun, Melbourne Author: Jeff Whalley Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 303,140 Page: 22 Printed Size: cm² Market: VIC Country: Australia ASR: AUD 56,525 Words: 635 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 cerns. The commission heard that in 2013 and 2014, ClearView paid sales staff $8000 bonuses if they hit 250 per cent of fortnightly sales targets. Ms Orr also questioned Mr Martin about ClearView s Melbourne call centre, which opened in 2014 and had targeted poorer people with insurance policies. As soon as it opened, problems occurred as customers ditched policies, which made the centre unprofitable, the commission heard. Ms Orr said the business was targeting poorer consumers. It was being sold to people who couldn t afford the product, she said. Mr Martin said: We now know that is true, yes. The call centre was closed in December Ms Orr said there was an emotional pitch to poorer people and a rational approach to wealthier people. Ms Orr also underscored the importance of commissions to financial advisers, pointing out they were paid $6 billion in commissions over five years. This included $1.16 billion paid by National Australia Bank s MLC business and almost $500 million by the Commonwealth Bank. Nearly $600 million was paid by Suncorp, $750 million by Westpac and $700 million by Hong Kong-based AIA Group. Another $330 million was paid by ANZ s OnePath business, $400 million by wealth manager AMP and $840 million by the Japanese group that trades as TAL. Financial advice reforms in 2013 banned conflicted remuneration, but until January this year, life insurers could continue to pay financial advisers generous upfront and trailing commission for referring customers. jeff.whalley@news.com.au BANKING ROYAL COMMISSION

54 Courier Mail, Brisbane Author: Anthony Keane Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 135,007 Page: 15 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 3,741 Words: 389 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Retirement plans not super We re aiming to retire earlier but can t afford it EXCLUSIVE ANTHONY KEANE GENERATION X wants to retire at 63 but believe they will need to work almost a decade longer to be able to afford it. Research by ING has found that Gen X those aged 39 to 53 believe they will need an average $1.5 million nest egg. However, they don t believe they will reach that financial milestone until age 72, and more than half are yet to start planning for retirement. Generation Y aged 24 to 38 want to retire at 61, believe they will need more money $1.74 million and won t have that until age 68, the research found. ING head of retail banking Melanie Evans said the findings suggested a lack of knowledge about superannuation and retirement among people under 50. Some were unsure where to start, others focused more on mortgages and shortterm living expenses, and many wanted to maintain or improve their lifestyles when they retired and know that comes at a higher cost. Many of them haven t sat down and worked out a plan so they re just making assumptions, she said. Ms Evans said it was never too early to start retirement planning, and getting advice was important. Start seeing super as your money, she said. It s nearly one in 10 dollars you earn. Track it as you would a savings account or mortgage. The research involving 2000 people also found Baby Boomers were more likely than younger generations to spend their children s inheritance. As the first generation with superannuation earnings for a large portion of their working life, they also feel as though they ve earned it and it s theirs to enjoy, Ms Evans said. Pivot Wealth founder and financial adviser Ben Nash said young generations had high aspirations for retirement and did not feel that the pension would be enough. Their parents generation felt the age pension was their right but the reality has set in that... it s difficult to maintain a lifestyle at a level that most people want with this money alone, he said. The younger someone is, the higher their expectations generally are around the lifestyle they want. The age pension pays a maximum of $ a fortnight and for Generation X and younger cannot be claimed until the age of 67.

55 Age, Melbourne Author: Elizabeth Knight Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 83,229 Page: 20 Printed Size: cm² Market: VIC Country: Australia ASR: AUD 43,636 Words: 591 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 Can NAB buy customer trust and at what cost? COMMENT Elizabeth Knight National Australia Bank has a new product for sale it s called trust. Its decision to separate itself from the banking pack and not increase mortgage rates won t deliver customer trust, but it might buy it some market share. But most of all it s a very clever public relations move and not a particularly expensive one. It will probably cost the bank between $10 million and $15 million a month. In the scheme of NAB s $6.6 billion profit last year, it s not a big deal. One of the greatest criticisms of banks is that they act as a herd they are large oligopolies and therefore there is a serious lack of competition between them. NAB has just made a case that there is room among the big four for a bit of difference or at least the appearance of a bit of difference. In doing so, it has done its competitors a favour as well. The move smacks of being tactical rather than strategic. This renegade bank has made no promises on whether or when it might increase rates. It could be in a couple of months if the pressure on its costs doesn t ease. In mounting its case, NAB said it would have been easy for it to follow the other banks. That s debatable. Reason one is that it had a better quarterly report than its peers in the latest filing so less of an excuse to cry poor. NAB has a larger emphasis on business lending and a smaller share of mortgages relative to the two big banks, Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank, so NAB raising mortgage rates is not as crucial. Second, NAB in recent months has been bombarded with a series of negative headlines regarding the behaviour of its superannuation business thanks to the royal commission and the decision by the regulator to take legal action against it for charging fees for no service. If ever there was a time that NAB needed to create some goodwill, it is now. Thus, this was a wellorchestrated campaign designed to achieve maximum exposure by having chief executive Andrew Thorburn hit the airwaves with talk about putting the bank s arms around its customers and rewarding their loyalty. For those with any corporate memory, this campaign will have a touch of deja vu. Back in 2011, it was NAB that mounted the breaking-up with the other big banks marketing campaign. It reduced fees, but more particularly left interest rates below its peers over a sustained period. It ended in tears for NAB when eventually it needed to get together again. The separation was painful for NAB and the reconciliation was painful for the customers when NAB was forced to lift rates to catch up to the others. NAB insists its new push to look after customers instead of shareholders is not Break-Up 2.0 rather it s make-up with its clients an exercise in brand building. Australia s new Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, seems impressed. He has described the decision as a good call. Looks like the PR is already working. If ever there was a time that NAB needed to create some goodwill, it is now.

56 Age, Melbourne Author: Elizabeth Knight Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 83,229 Page: 20 Printed Size: cm² Market: VIC Country: Australia ASR: AUD 43,636 Words: 591 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 Home Alone NAB, which has the smallest share of thehomeloanmarket,hasoptednotto follow its peers in lifting rates... for now. Residential mortgage portfolio (outstanding balances) $413 billion $398 billion 25% 24% $256 billion $252 billion 15% 15% % share of residential mortgages SOURCE: ACCC; MARKET SHARE AS AT DECEMBER 2017 NAB CEO Andrew Thorburn. Photo: Bloomberg

57 Age, Melbourne Author: LUKE COSTIN Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 83,229 Page: 21 Printed Size: cm² Market: VIC Country: Australia ASR: AUD 11,748 Words: 406 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Federal Court judge questions record $35m Westpac fine COURTS Luke Costin A Federal Court judge has baulked at Westpac s offer to pay a record $35 million fine over its irresponsible mortgage lending practices. The country s oldest bank and the corporate regulator last week agreed to the record fine after Westpac conceded it wrongly assessed people s ability to repay mortgages between December 2011 and March 2015, by relying on a benchmark for customer expenses. Yesterday Federal Court judge Nye Perram questioned how Westpac and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission had arrived at the penalty that is nearly double that of the largest fine awarded under the National Credit Act. He said he had to play devil s advocate given Westpac and ASIC had agreed on the facts including that the bank s conduct was an innocent mistake. Justice Perram confirmed with ASIC s barrister that it was a goodfaith breach which hasn t caused any loss and damage, and pointed out the fine was significantly higher than previous penalties handed out for irresponsible lending. These included ANZ s $5 million penalty over car loans and Thorn, the owners of Radio Rentals, copping $2 million over the issuing of 270,000 leases. One thing which troubles me a little bit is I look at the Thorn case, ASIC v Thorn, Justice Perram said. And that was in relation to 275,000 consumer leases and the penalty was $2 million. They re roughly taking a generous view, but the relevant number for your purposes is 260,000 rather than 10 and a half thousand. That s a huge 25 difference in the size of the penalty. Jeremy Kirk, Westpac s barrister, argued the court wasn t required to decide whether it was the appropriate penalty but only had to be assured it was an appropriate penalty. The case centred on Westpac using a statistics-based household expenditure measure to automatically calculate a customer s ability to repay a loan regardless of whether that HEM figure was lower than the customer had declared as their monthly expenses. Four per cent of the 262,000 home loans automatically approved under the HEM method should have been referred to a credit officer for assessment, but weren t. ASIC argued the penalty was appropriate given a number of factors, including the relative size of home loans to other consumer loans, the sector s importance to Westpac s bottom line and the overall size of Westpac and its main competitors. Justice Perram reserved his decision until a later date. AAP with Clancy Yeates Westpac agreed to the penalty. NATAGE A021

58 The Australian, Australia Author: Alan Kohler Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 29 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 10,136 Words: 1045 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 BANKS BACK IN FIRING LINE Josh Frydenberg has an easy target for a tax rise ALAN KOHLER Josh Frydenberg is facing the horrible distinction of being the first treasurer since Jim Cairns in 1975 and Chris Bowen in 2013 to come and go without having brought down a budget. He must be consumed with dread at the thought of being on the same sparsely populated honour board as Cairns, but Frydenberg said yesterday he would keep any thoughts about his first budget and the election to conversations between himself and the Prime Minister. What follows, therefore, is pure speculation. His only hope of getting a budget in before the election is for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to persuade the Governor-General and the electoral authorities to delay the poll for a week or two past the May 18 deadline for a half- Senate election, and for Frydenberg to bring forward the budget to the first Tuesday in May rather than the second. The PM would then have to drive to Yarralumla the following morning; it would be the ultimate pre-election budget. It s possible, but hard to see them pulling it off. More likely, you would think, is a mini budget in December and a May election, possibly earlier, although the NSW election in March gets in the way. As for an even earlier election this year, the Victorian election in November gets in the way. So a mini budget it is. Not quite the same as a proper one, but it might have to do. The next question is: what will be in it? Answer (I m guessing): an increase in the bank levy. Since the levy was first introduced by Morrison in the May 2017 budget (0.06 per cent of the large, risky liabilities of banks with over $100 billion in liabilities, which means the big four plus Macquarie), the banks have put forward a solid case to be whacked again. It s been a long 18 months for them, including the best part of nine months being bashed up in the royal commission. The UK bank levy started in 2011 as per cent on shortterm liabilities and per cent on long-term liabilities and was increased nine times to 0.21 and per cent by 2015, before the government started a gradual reduction in favour of an 8 per cent income tax surcharge on the banks. The Morrison government could either just increase the levy, widen it beyond the riskier banks liabilities like commercial paper and certificates of deposit, go beyond the big four plus Macquarie or even replace it with an income tax surcharge, as the UK is doing. The least likely option in my view is that the banks are let off. They are now the most pluckable geese in the taxation farmyard, and the banking royal commission, so steadfastly resisted by the Coalition for so long, could turn out to be a budget saviour. Actually it might be a good idea for the government to announce an increase in the bank levy quick smart to make sure they get in before the ALP does. Bill Shorten and Chris Bowen have been diligent in finding ways to increase revenue for election campaign giveaways, and it would be a cruel blow if they got to the bank levy before Frydenberg had a chance to announce it, in which case he d be forced to say it was a shocking idea, the worst he s seen, and to look elsewhere for money. The other, even more obvious place to look for extra revenue has been ruled out a carbon tax, otherwise known as an emissions trading scheme. The Clean Energy Act of 2011 the one time the parliament passed legislation to deal with climate change was budgeted to produce revenue of $1.5bn a year, which would be handy now. But that was repealed in 2014 in favour of direct action, which was later quietly strangled, and the Coalition has now decided to do nothing at all because a few of its MPs feel so strongly that climate change is a hoax that they would have crossed the floor. Doing nothing preserves the fig leaf of party unity, but has zero credibility, can t be sustained and is very unpopular. Oh, and it won t bring in any cash. As it happens, the bank levy also brings in $1.5bn cash a year, so perhaps it was secretly designed simply to replace the carbon tax. In any case, doubling it now would have the clear advantage that no one in parliament would vote against that, either floorcrossers or those already opposite. Announced now, it would allow Frydenberg and Morrison to continue attacking Labor s dividend franking and negative gearing plans while also funding some lavish campaign promises. Meanwhile, the Coalition s conversion from defending banks to joining in the national sport of bashing them was on display last week in the announcement of ASIC s civil penalty of $35m against Westpac for sloppy loan approvals. Three separate press releases were issued in quick succession: one by ASIC, one by Westpac and a third by Treasurer Frydenberg. ASIC said that 260,000 loans in total were approved between December 2011 and March 2015 using Westpac s automated deci-

59 The Australian, Australia Author: Alan Kohler Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 29 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 10,136 Words: 1045 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 sion system. For 50,000 of them, Westpac received, but didn t use, consumers actual expenses, and for another 50,000 it didn t use repayment capacity at the end of the interest-only period to assess capacity to service the debt, as required. Of those 100,000 loans, Westpac agreed, 10,500 shouldn t have been approved. Coughing up the fine, Westpac grumpily added that none of those loans was unsuitable and they re all performing in line with the broader loan book. The strongest that ASIC chair James Shipton said was: This is a very positive outcome and sends a strong regulatory message to industry that non-compliance with the responsible lending obligations will not be tolerated. Frydenberg put the boot in: This kind of conduct is completely unacceptable and why we have laws in place to protect consumers from being put at risk of being in unaffordable home loans. Now bend over so I can whack you in the arse with this tax. Alan Kohler is the publisher of The Constant Investor. V1 - AUSE01Z01MA The banks are now the most pluckable geese in the taxation farmyard. ALAN KOHLER

60 Age, Melbourne Author: Clancy Yeates Sarah Danckert Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 83,229 Page: 9 Printed Size: cm² Market: VIC Country: Australia ASR: AUD 14,434 Words: 475 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Insurers admit litany of misconduct Clancy Yeates Sarah Danckert The nation s best-known insurance companies have admitted a litany of misconduct including wrongly denying claims, overcharging customers and misselling policies, the Hayne royal commission has heard. As the commission turns its attention to the insurance sector this week, the opening address from senior counsel assisting, Rowena Orr, QC, yesterday outlined a series of admissions relating to the past 10 years that insurance giants made in their submissions to the inquiry. There are 16.9 million life insurance policies in Australia, which collect $18.3 billion in direct premiums from customers each year. The majority of these policies are included as part of people s superannuation policies, while other policies are sold by financial advisers or call centres. Ms Orr said life insurance giants had paid out more than $6 billion in commissions in about five years underlining the key role that potentially conflicted remuneration still plays in the industry. Clearview, the subject of the commission s first case study, admitted to 303,000 criminal breaches over its cold-calling tactics, told the commission it had found 225 instances related to life insurance that might amount to misconduct or conduct below community expectations, Ms Orr said. Sixteen of these involved misselling. Ms Orr revealed a roll call of Australia s biggest insurers had admitted to issues. Insurance Australia Group which operates brands including NRMA, CGU, SGIO, Swann and Lumley Insurance admitted to 112 instances of misconduct, including some systemic issues relating to its handling of claims. National Australia Bank acknowledged 37 insurance-related incidents of misconduct or conduct below community standards. One example involved members being incorrectly rejected, or paid out less than they were owed. NAB s MLC business acknowledged misconduct in life insurance, having reported 40 legal breaches to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission or the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority in the past decade. Commonwealth Bank admitted 60 instances of misconduct, of which more than 30 related to life insurance. Examples included its reliance on out-of-date medical definitions for heart attack and rheumatoid arthritis, as exposed by The Age, and the sale of unsuitable consumer credit insurance to about 65,000 customers. Life insurer TAL admitted 31 cases of misconduct, such as sales practices that included misleading television and online advertisements, Ms Orr said. The commission will also turn its gaze on the treatment of mental health and mental illness in life insurance claims by TAL and the group super policies offered to members of REST Super and AMP. Suncorp, which sells cover under brands including AAMI, GIO, APIA and Bingle, also acknowledged an unspecified number of incidences of misconduct or conduct that fell below community expectations, Ms Orr said. Allianz identified 49 incidences of misconduct and failures to respond to 6000 travel insurance claims promptly. AMP acknowledged possible misconduct, including the churning of customers from one AMP policy to another in order to generate commissions for advisers. The hearing continues.

61 Age, Melbourne Author: Clancy Yeates Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 83,229 Page: 9 Printed Size: cm² Market: VIC Country: Australia ASR: AUD 9,622 Words: 364 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 NAB keeps mortgage rate on hold to build trust Clancy Yeates National Australia Bank is leaving tens of millions in potential profit on the table in an attempt to repair its damaged reputation, signalling it will buck the industry trend and leave home loan interest rates unchanged for the short term, at least. In a surprise to many market observers, NAB yesterday said it would be keeping its standard variable home loan rate on hold at 5.24 per cent, unlike ANZ Bank, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank, which have all raised rates over the past week and a half. We are listening and acting differently. We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer, NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn said, adding the bank would keep an eye on funding costs. It is estimated the move, which comes after NAB s reputation took a particular hit at last month s royal commission hearings on superannuation, would cost the bank about $6 million a week in forgone profit, or about $300 million over a full year. However, some experts said they thought it would be a relatively temporary reprieve for customers, and the bank itself did not give a commitment on how long it would keep the interest rate unchanged. Macquarie analyst Victor German estimated NAB stood to gain about $300 million if it followed rivals on home loan interest rates. He said it would be hard to justify such a move to shareholders unless NAB could point to tangible benefits from the decision. If funding conditions stay where they are, and competitive conditions stay where they are... I think it s going to be very difficult for them to justify not following their competitors, he said. Once the rate hikes from NAB s main rivals have taken effect, NAB will have the lowest standard variable interest rate. ANZ s rate is set to move to 5.36 per cent, Commonwealth Bank s to 5.37 per cent, and Westpac s to 5.38 per cent. Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has previously urged customers to ditch their bank if they were unhappy with their home loan rate, said NAB had made a good call by not lifting rates. NATAGE A009

62 Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Author: Elizabeth Knight Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 88,634 Page: 24 Printed Size: cm² Market: NSW Country: Australia ASR: AUD 50,343 Words: 535 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 Can NAB buy customer trust and at what cost? COMMENT Elizabeth Knight National Australia Bank has a new product for sale it s called trust. Its decision to separate itself from the banking pack and not increase mortgage rates won t deliver customer trust, but it might buy it some market share. But most of all it s a very clever public relations move and not a particularly expensive one. It will probably cost the bank between $10 million and $15 million a month. In the scheme of NAB s $6.6 billion profit last year, it s not a big deal. One of the greatest criticisms of banks is that they act as a herd they are large oligopolies and therefore there is a serious lack of competition between them. NAB has just made a case that there is room among the big four for a bit of difference or at least the appearance of a bit of difference. In doing so, it has done its competitors a favour as well. The move smacks of being tactical rather than strategic. This renegade bank has made no promises on whether or when it might increase rates. It could be in a couple of months if the pressure on its costs doesn t ease. In mounting its case, NAB said it would have been easy for it to follow the other banks. That s debatable. Reason one is that it had a better quarterly report than its peers in the latest filing so less of an excuse to cry poor. NAB has a larger emphasis on business lending and a smaller share of mortgages relative to the two big banks, Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank, so NAB raising mortgage rates is not as crucial. Second, NAB in recent months has been bombarded with a series of negative headlines regarding the behaviour of its superannuation business thanks to the royal commission and the decision by the regulator to take legal action against it for charging fees for no service. If ever there was a time that NAB needed to create some goodwill, it is now. Thus, this was a wellorchestrated campaign designed to achieve maximum exposure by having chief executive Andrew Thorburn hit the airwaves with talk about putting the bank s arms around its customers and rewarding their loyalty. For those with any corporate memory, this campaign will have a touch of deja vu. Back in 2011, it was NAB that mounted the breaking-up with the other big banks marketing campaign. It reduced fees, but more particularly left interest rates below its peers over a sustained period. It ended in tears for NAB when eventually it needed to get together again. The separation was painful for NAB and the reconciliation was painful for the customers when NAB was forced to lift rates to catch up to the others. NAB insists its new push to look after customers instead of shareholders is not Break-Up 2.0 rather it s make-up with its clients an exercise in brand building. Australia s new Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, seems impressed. He has described the decision as a good call. Looks like the PR is already working. If ever there was a time that NAB needed to create some goodwill, it is now.

63 Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Author: Elizabeth Knight Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 88,634 Page: 24 Printed Size: cm² Market: NSW Country: Australia ASR: AUD 50,343 Words: 535 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 Home Alone NAB, which has the smallest share of thehomeloanmarket,hasoptednotto follow its peers in lifting rates... for now. Residential mortgage portfolio (outstanding balances) $413 billion $398 billion 25% 24% $256 billion $252 billion 15% 15% % share of residential mortgages SOURCE: ACCC; MARKET SHARE AS AT DECEMBER 2017 NAB CEO Andrew Thorburn. Photo: Bloomberg

64 Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Author: Elizabeth Knight Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 88,634 Page: 25 Printed Size: cm² Market: NSW Country: Australia ASR: AUD 31,214 Words: 631 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 What risk? Multibillion foreign investor gives Australia big tick ANALYSIS Elizabeth Knight Canberra s political circus is definitely embarrassing. Australian businesses regularly cry that international investors will shun Australia thanks to policy or political uncertainty. But ask the head of one of the world s biggest pension funds whether we are a no-go zone and he seemed bemused. The $350 billion Canadian pension fund CPPI has been a longterm and consistent investor in Australia in infrastructure, real estate and technology. Mention the concept of sovereign risk and the response is what risk? This group invests worldwide. It has to navigate real tensions in emerging markets such as the US- China trade war, to say nothing of hotspots in Turkey and Argentina. The whole notion that Scott Morrison represents a bigger or smaller risk than Malcolm Turnbull or Labor s Bill Shorten is pretty strange for international investment funds that need to weigh up putting money into seriously unstable regimes. Most recently, CPPI was a major player in the consortium that took at 51 per cent stake in NSW government s privatisation of WestConnex investing about $1.8 billion. The laundry list of its investments is long and spans more than a decade. Right now it has 11 per cent of its $C366 billion ($390 billion) capital invested in Australia and with good reason. We are very comfortable here, says chief executive Mark Machin. It s as close as you can get to Canada in the world a similar legal system and the predictability of regulation and (despite lots of changes of governments) it s a place where we feel we can buy Continued Page 26 What risk? Investor gives big tick From Page 25 assets and hold them for the longer term because it is very comfortable business climate. We have invested through multiple governments and there has been a predictability of regulation and policy with respect to foreign investment and tax. We are superlong-term investors. We hold for the life of the assets so when we are paying finely chiselled prices we want to have continuity in regulatory issues and tax over many years. And for this the Canadians are willing to pay the price. Machin is clear enough that the WestConnex investment didn t come cheap. I would say the NSW government ran a... robust process and got a lot of competition and a very good price, he says. Why? Because the supply of good infrastructure assets is limited, particularly in the counties in which these funds want to invest. There is not enough supply, not sufficient predictable pipeline of opportunities around the world and a huge amount of capital is chasing it, he says. With all that capital in pursuit assets are now looking fully valued. Machin says it is a fabulous time for governments to raise infrastructure-related capital but bemoans that most governments around the world find it difficult to get their act together, to get processes started and completed. This doesn t mean that CPPI even as a long-term investor doesn t concern itself with the immediate prognosis of the world markets and the world economy. I don t think we think we are in bubble territory. The underlying economic growth in the US growth has been extraordinarily robust but growth continues to come through and inflation around the world had been incredibly muted, he says. Debt exists across governments and other areas and it has to be paid off $US500 trillion in debt has to be worked through somehow. So here is the warning: We shouldn t expect double-digit returns from our fund for the next few years [which means] more muted returns. But funds like this (and our Future Fund) rely on assessing the longer term big picture. We are super-longterm investors. Mark Machin, CPPI chief

65 Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Author: Elizabeth Knight Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 88,634 Page: 25 Printed Size: cm² Market: NSW Country: Australia ASR: AUD 31,214 Words: 631 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 Mark Machin, president and chief executive officer of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Photo: Bloomberg

66 Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Author: LUKE COSTIN Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 88,634 Page: 25 Printed Size: cm² Market: NSW Country: Australia ASR: AUD 16,728 Words: 406 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Federal Court judge questions record $35m Westpac fine COURTS Luke Costin A Federal Court judge has baulked at Westpac s offer to pay a record $35 million fine over its irresponsible mortgage lending practices. The country s oldest bank and the corporate regulator last week agreed to the record fine after Westpac conceded it wrongly assessed people s ability to repay mortgages between December 2011 and March 2015, by relying on a benchmark for customer expenses. Yesterday Federal Court judge Nye Perram questioned how Westpac and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission had arrived at the penalty that is nearly double that of the largest fine awarded under the National Credit Act. He said he had to play devil s advocate given Westpac and ASIC had agreed on the facts including that the bank s conduct was an innocent mistake. Justice Perram confirmed with ASIC s barrister that it was a goodfaith breach which hasn t caused any loss and damage, and pointed out the fine was significantly higher than previous penalties handed out for irresponsible lending. These included ANZ s $5 million penalty over car loans and Thorn, the owners of Radio Rentals, copping $2 million over the issuing of 270,000 leases. One thing which troubles me a little bit is I look at the Thorn case, ASIC v Thorn, Justice Perram said. And that was in relation to 275,000 consumer leases and the penalty was $2 million. They re roughly taking a generous view, but the relevant number for your purposes is 260,000 rather than 10 and a half thousand. That s a huge 25 difference in the size of the penalty. Jeremy Kirk, Westpac s barrister, argued the court wasn t required to decide whether it was the appropriate penalty but only had to be assured it was an appropriate penalty. The case centred on Westpac using a statistics-based household expenditure measure to automatically calculate a customer s ability to repay a loan regardless of whether that HEM figure was lower than the customer had declared as their monthly expenses. Four per cent of the 262,000 home loans automatically approved under the HEM method should have been referred to a credit officer for assessment, but weren t. ASIC argued the penalty was appropriate given a number of factors, including the relative size of home loans to other consumer loans, the sector s importance to Westpac s bottom line and the overall size of Westpac and its main competitors. Justice Perram reserved his decision until a later date. AAP with Clancy Yeates Westpac agreed to the penalty. 1HERSA1 A025

67 Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Author: Clancy Yeates Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 88,634 Page: 13 Printed Size: cm² Market: NSW Country: Australia ASR: AUD 28,093 Words: 616 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 BANKING NAB opts against rise in rates for home loans Clancy Yeates National Australia Bank is leaving tens of millions in potential profit on the table in an attempt to repair its damaged reputation, signalling it will buck the industry trend and leave home loan interest rates unchanged for the short term, at least. In a surprise to many market observers, NAB yesterday said it would be keeping its standard variable home loan rate on hold at 5.24 per cent, unlike ANZ Bank, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank, all of which have raised rates over the past week and a half. We are listening and acting differently. We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB t d d i bl t l standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer, NAB CEO Andrew Thorburn said, adding the bank would keep an eye on funding costs. It is estimated the move, which comes after NAB s reputation took a particular hit at last month s royal commission hearings on superannuation, would cost the bank about $6 million a week in forgone profit, or about $300 million over a full year. However, some experts said they thought it would be a relatively temporary reprieve for customers, and the bank itself did not give a commitment on how long it would keep the interest rate unchanged. Macquarie analyst Victor German estimated NAB stood to gain about $300 million if it followed rivals on home loan interest rates. He said it would be hard to justify such a move to shareholders unless NAB could point to tangible benefits from the decision. If funding conditions stay where they are, and competitive conditions stay where they are and their margins stay under pressure, I think it s going to be very difficult for them to justify not following their competitors, Mr German said. David Walker, senior analyst at Clime Asset Management, said the bank s funding costs had risen, and he believed it would ultimately pass these on to customers within the next six months. I don t think it s long term, I think it s a temporary reach for market share, Mr Walker said. However, fund manager Andrew Martin, principal of Alphinity, said NAB s decision was a sensible one in the current hostile political environment facing banks. NAB could afford to make such a move more than its mortgage-heavy rivals, such as CBA and Westpac, because NAB s loan book is skewed to highermargin small business lending, Mr Martin said. They are in the position to do it, and given the current environment is probably a sensible thing to do, Mr Martin said. If in three months time, funding costs have got worse, they will probably re-price. Once the rate hikes from NAB s main rivals have taken effect, NAB

68 Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Author: Clancy Yeates Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 88,634 Page: 13 Printed Size: cm² Market: NSW Country: Australia ASR: AUD 28,093 Words: 616 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 will have the lowest standard variable interest rate. ANZ s rate is set to move to 5.36 per cent, CBA s to 5.37 per cent, and Westpac s to 5.38 per cent. In the past two months, NAB, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac have all cut base interest rates on their atcall deposit accounts, comparison website Mozo said. NAB said if it had decided to raise interest rates by 0.15 percentage points, the monthly repayments on a $300,000 loan would have lifted by $28, or by $47 a month for a $500,000 loan. Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who has previously urged customers to ditch their bank if they were unhappy with their homeloan rate, yesterday said NAB had made a good call by not lifting rates. NAB shares fell 0.6 per cent to $27.69, slightly more than the fall in Westpac and ANZ shares, while CBA s stock price increased by 0.3 per cent to $ Rate hikes 5.24 % NAB s rate 5.36 % ANZ s rate 5.37 % CBA s rate 5.38 % Westpac s rate

69 Canberra Times, Canberra Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 17,579 Page: 34 Printed Size: 95.00cm² Market: ACT Country: Australia ASR: AUD 2,433 Words: 184 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 A little more conversation JoinRUOK?foritsConversation Convoy tomorrow and the chance to meetruok? ambassador and singer-songwriter Nick de la Hoyde. The Parliament House precinct event, to be held on Federation Mall from early morning, will also offer a BBQ, interactive ways to learn the 4 Steps to an R U OK? conversation, children s activities and more. The event is free and suitable for all ages. Here s the event timeline: 8am Guests arrive; coffee and breakfast available. 8:10 Official welcome and introduction by R U OK? CEO Brendan Maher. 8:13 Guest speaker: Health Minister Greg Hunt. 8:16 Guest Speaker: The Hon Julie Collins, MP. 8:19 Q&A with Leeanne Turner, MTAA Super. 8:22 Guest speaker: James Ciuffetelli, Sensis. 8:25 Q&A with John Schumann, Barry DuBois and Nick de la Hoyde. 8:30 Performance by Nick de la Hoyde 8:35 Vote of thanks. Other VIPs attending will include: Gai Brodtmann MP (Member for Canberra), Senator David Smith (ACT), Mick Gentleman MLA (Brindabella), Bec Cody MLA (MMurrumbidgee), Tara Cheyne MLA (Ginninderra), Nicole Lawder MLA (Brindabella), Mark Parton MLA (Brindabella), Caroline Le Couteur MLA (Murrumbidgee).

70 Age, Melbourne Author: Elizabeth Knight Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 83,229 Page: 20 Printed Size: cm² Market: VIC Country: Australia ASR: AUD 35,525 Words: 583 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 Reason one is that it had a better quarterly report than its peers in the latest filing so less of an excuse to cry poor. NAB has a larger emphasis on business lending and a smaller share of mortgages relative to the two big banks, Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank, so NAB raising mortgage rates is not as crucial. Second, NAB in recent months has been bombarded with a series of negative headlines regarding the behaviour of its superannuation business thanks to the royal commission and the decision by the regulator to take legal action against it for charging fees for no service. If ever there was a time that NAB needed to create some goodwill, it is now. Thus, this was a well- orchestrated campaign designed to achieve maximum exposure by having chief executive Andrew Thorburn hit the airwaves with talk about putting the bank s arms around its customers and rewarding their loyalty. For those with any corporate memory, this campaign will have a touch of deja vu. Back in 2011, it was NAB that mounted the breaking-up with the other big banks marketing Can NAB buy customer trust and at what cost? COMMENT Elizabeth Knight National Australia Bank has a new product for sale it s called trust. Its decision to separate itself from the banking pack and not increase mortgage rates won t deliver customer trust, but it might buy it some market share. But most of all it s a very clever public relations move and not a particularly expensive one. It will probably cost the bank between $10 million and $15 million a month. In the scheme of NAB s $6.6 billion profit last year, it s not a big deal. One of the greatest criticisms of banks is that they act as a herd they are large oligopolies and therefore there is a serious lack of competition between them. NAB has just made a case that there is room among the big four for a bit of difference or at least the appearance of a bit of difference. In doing so, it has done its competitors a favour as well. The move smacks of being tactical rather than strategic. This renegade bank has made no promises on whether or when it might increase rates. It could be in a couple of months if the pressure on its costs doesn t ease. In mounting its case, NAB said it would have been easy for it to follow the other banks. That s debatable. campaign. It reduced fees, but more particularly left interest rates below its peers over a sustained period. It ended in tears for NAB when eventually it needed to get together again. The separation was painful for NAB and the reconciliation was painful for the customers when NAB was forced to lift rates to catch up to the others. NAB insists its new push to look after customers instead of shareholders is not Break-Up 2.0 rather it s make-up with its clients an exercise in brand building. Australia s new Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, seems impressed. He has described the decision as a good call. Looks like the PR is already working. If ever there was a time that NAB needed to create some goodwill, it is now.

71 Age, Melbourne Author: Elizabeth Knight Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 83,229 Page: 20 Printed Size: cm² Market: VIC Country: Australia ASR: AUD 35,525 Words: 583 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 Home Alone NAB, which has the smallest share of thehomeloanmarket,hasoptednotto follow its peers in lifting rates... for now. Residential mortgage portfolio (outstanding balances) $413 billion $398 billion 25% 24% $256 billion $252 billion 15% 15% % share of residential mortgages SOURCE: ACCC; MARKET SHARE AS AT DECEMBER 2017 NAB CEO Andrew Thorburn. Photo: Bloomberg

72 Hobart Mercury, Hobart Author: Jeff Whalley Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 28,265 Page: 17 Printed Size: cm² Market: TAS Country: Australia ASR: AUD 1,381 Words: 382 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Firm admits cold-call insurance crime spree JEFF WHALLEY LIFE insurer ClearView Wealth concedes it may have broken criminal laws more than 300,000 times in its efforts to hawk insurance by cold calling Aussie consumers. And major finance companies lavished more than $6 billion of commissions over five years on financial advisers who directed life insurance customers their way, the banking royal commission has heard. The revelations yesterday came in another day of startling testimony as the sixth round of hearings started in Melbourne. This round is focusing on misconduct in the insurance industry. Counsel assisting the commission Rowena Orr, QC, said the life insurance sector would come under scrutiny this week before the focus swung to general insurance next week. Ms Orr yesterday shone a light on ClearView and detailed its lengthy talks with the corporate cop, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which two years ago discovered problems in the company s call centres. ClearView had bought lists of contact details for Aussie consumers, she said, then staff cold called those people to pitch its insurance policies. The company failed to meet legal requirements for cold calling prospective customers, the commission heard. Under Australia s antihawking laws, life insurers need to jump a series of hurdles to sell products to consumers through a cold call. They are obliged to provide would-be customers with product disclosure statements before a sale. They are also obliged to offer the option of joining the do-not-call register. Companies are theoretically barred from cold calling consumers on the register. Questioning ClearView chief risk officer Gregory Martin, Ms Orr said: ASIC wanted an explanation from ClearView on how ClearView satisfied itself of the various requirements of the anti-hawking provisions. Do you remember ASIC saying to you that... they needed to know the extent of the possible contraventions so that they may form a view on what regulatory outcome they [wanted]? Mr Martin accepted there were 300,000 to 303,000 breaches over the three-year period in question. Breaches are criminal offences. We just got that wrong. We made a mistake, Mr Martin told the commission. ClearView, provides financial advice and wealth management services, shuttered its life insurance call centre after ASIC raised its concerns. The commission heard that in 2013 and 2014, ClearView paid sales staff $8000 bonuses if they hit 250 per cent of fortnightly sales targets.

73 Daily Mercury, Mackay QLD Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 7,738 Page: 18 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 261 Words: 396 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 NAB goes alone on rates Bank ignores rivals moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (pictured) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ have over the past two weeks said they would raise their standard variable rates for owner-occupiers to 5.38 per cent, 5.37 per cent and 5.36 per cent, respectively. Mr Thorburn indicated that NAB s decision was a result of an environment in which huge profits and revelations of misconduct aired at the royal commission had damaged the big banks public standing. We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer, Mr Thorburn said. By focusing more on our customers, we build trust and advocacy, and this creates a more sustainable business. The out-of-cycle hikes by NAB s rivals drew criticism from customers and politicians, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison weighing in to encourage unhappy borrowers to switch providers. The Prime Minister yesterday tweeted his approval of NAB s decision. Good call not to lift mortgage rates. They seem to get it. NAB s share price, however, seemed to suggest investors were thinking about a lost opportunity to boost margins. NAB shares were down about 0.6 per cent in afternoon trade, compared to a slight gain for CBA and declines of about 0.2 per cent and 0.35 per cent for ANZ and Westpac. The other lenders out-ofcycle moves led to economists last week suggesting the Reserve Bank of Australia would keep the cash rate on hold at a record low of 1.5 per cent for even longer than previously thought. The RBA, which has not moved on rates since August 2016, would be wary of increasing the load on borrowers and decreasing the amount they can spend elsewhere and could even cut the cash rate if the banks hike further, AMP economist Shane Oliver said. Westpac was the first to raise interest rates on variable interest home loans, hitting customers with higher rates despite making huge profits. ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank both announced their rate rises on Thursday within hours of each other.

74 Gympie Times, Gympie QLD Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 2,997 Page: 23 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 192 Words: 396 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 NAB goes alone on rates Bank ignores rivals moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (pictured) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ have over the past two weeks said they would raise their standard variable rates for owner-occupiers to 5.38 per cent, 5.37 per cent and 5.36 per cent, respectively. Mr Thorburn indicated that NAB s decision was a result of an environment in which huge profits and revelations of misconduct aired at the royal commission had damaged the big banks public standing. We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer, Mr Thorburn said. By focusing more on our customers, we build trust and advocacy, and this creates a more sustainable business. The out-of-cycle hikes by NAB s rivals drew criticism from customers and politicians, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison weighing in to encourage unhappy borrowers to switch providers. The Prime Minister yesterday tweeted his approval of NAB s decision. Good call not to lift mortgage rates. They seem to get it. NAB s share price, however, seemed to suggest investors were thinking about a lost opportunity to boost margins. NAB shares were down about 0.6 per cent in afternoon trade, compared to a slight gain for CBA and declines of about 0.2 per cent and 0.35 per cent for ANZ and Westpac. The other lenders out-ofcycle moves led to economists last week suggesting the Reserve Bank of Australia would keep the cash rate on hold at a record low of 1.5 per cent for even longer than previously thought. The RBA, which has not moved on rates since August 2016, would be wary of increasing the load on borrowers and decreasing the amount they can spend elsewhere and could even cut the cash rate if the banks hike further, AMP economist Shane Oliver said. Westpac was the first to raise interest rates on variable interest home loans, hitting customers with higher rates despite making huge profits. ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank both announced their rate rises on Thursday within hours of each other.

75 News Mail, Bundaberg QLD Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 6,176 Page: 18 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 226 Words: 396 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 NAB goes alone on rates Bank ignores rivals moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (pictured) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ have over the past two weeks said they would raise their standard variable rates for owner-occupiers to 5.38 per cent, 5.37 per cent and 5.36 per cent, respectively. Mr Thorburn indicated that NAB s decision was a result of an environment in which huge profits and revelations of misconduct aired at the royal commission had damaged the big banks public standing. We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer, Mr Thorburn said. By focusing more on our customers, we build trust and advocacy, and this creates a more sustainable business. The out-of-cycle hikes by NAB s rivals drew criticism from customers and politicians, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison weighing in to encourage unhappy borrowers to switch providers. The Prime Minister yesterday tweeted his approval of NAB s decision. Good call not to lift mortgage rates. They seem to get it. NAB s share price, however, seemed to suggest investors were thinking about a lost opportunity to boost margins. NAB shares were down about 0.6 per cent in afternoon trade, compared to a slight gain for CBA and declines of about 0.2 per cent and 0.35 per cent for ANZ and Westpac. The other lenders out-ofcycle moves led to economists last week suggesting the Reserve Bank of Australia would keep the cash rate on hold at a record low of 1.5 per cent for even longer than previously thought. The RBA, which has not moved on rates since August 2016, would be wary of increasing the load on borrowers and decreasing the amount they can spend elsewhere and could even cut the cash rate if the banks hike further, AMP economist Shane Oliver said. Westpac was the first to raise interest rates on variable interest home loans, hitting customers with higher rates despite making huge profits. ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank both announced their rate rises on Thursday within hours of each other.

76 Queensland Times, Ipswich QLD Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 6,256 Page: 23 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 226 Words: 396 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 NAB goes alone on rates Bank ignores rivals moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (pictured) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ have over the past two weeks said they would raise their standard variable rates for owner-occupiers to 5.38 per cent, 5.37 per cent and 5.36 per cent, respectively. Mr Thorburn indicated that NAB s decision was a result of an environment in which huge profits and revelations of misconduct aired at the royal commission had damaged the big banks public standing. We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer, Mr Thorburn said. By focusing more on our customers, we build trust and advocacy, and this creates a more sustainable business. The out-of-cycle hikes by NAB s rivals drew criticism from customers and politicians, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison weighing in to encourage unhappy borrowers to switch providers. The Prime Minister yesterday tweeted his approval of NAB s decision. Good call not to lift mortgage rates. They seem to get it. NAB s share price, however, seemed to suggest investors were thinking about a lost opportunity to boost margins. NAB shares were down about 0.6 per cent in afternoon trade, compared to a slight gain for CBA and declines of about 0.2 per cent and 0.35 per cent for ANZ and Westpac. The other lenders out-ofcycle moves led to economists last week suggesting the Reserve Bank of Australia would keep the cash rate on hold at a record low of 1.5 per cent for even longer than previously thought. The RBA, which has not moved on rates since August 2016, would be wary of increasing the load on borrowers and decreasing the amount they can spend elsewhere and could even cut the cash rate if the banks hike further, AMP economist Shane Oliver said. Westpac was the first to raise interest rates on variable interest home loans, hitting customers with higher rates despite making huge profits. ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank both announced their rate rises on Thursday within hours of each other.

77 Geelong Advertiser, Geelong VIC Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 16,687 Page: 17 Printed Size: cm² Market: VIC Country: Australia ASR: AUD 647 Words: 286 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 NAB breaks ranks Bank says mortgage rate to stay low in bid to win trust NAB is keeping its variable mortgage rates on hold despite moves by its big four rivals to hike rates in response to increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn said yesterday National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions, but would continue to hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. Over the past two weeks Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ have said they would raise their standard variable rates for owner-occupiers to 5.38, 5.37 and 5.36 per cent. Mr Thorburn indicated NAB s decision was a direct result of an environment in which huge profits and revelations of misconduct aired at the royal commission had damaged the big banks public standing. We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer, he said. By focusing more on our customers, we build trust and advocacy, and this creates a more sustainable business. The hikes by NAB s rivals led to economists last week suggesting the Reserve Bank of Australia would keep the cash rate on hold at a record low of 1.5 per cent for longer than previously thought. The RBA, which had not moved on rates since August 2016, would be wary of increasing the load on borrowers and decreasing the amount they could spend elsewhere in the economy and could even cut the cash rate if the banks hiked further, AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said. AAP We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer. CHIEF EXECUTIVE ANDREW THORBURN

78 Gladstone Observer, Gladstone QLD Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 3,301 Page: 20 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 226 Words: 396 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 NAB goes alone on rates Bank ignores rivals moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (pictured) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ have over the past two weeks said they would raise their standard variable rates for owner-occupiers to 5.38 per cent, 5.37 per cent and 5.36 per cent, respectively. Mr Thorburn indicated that NAB s decision was a result of an environment in which huge profits and revelations of misconduct aired at the royal commission had damaged the big banks public standing. We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer, Mr Thorburn said. By focusing more on our customers, we build trust and advocacy, and this creates a more sustainable business. The out-of-cycle hikes by NAB s rivals drew criticism from customers and politicians, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison weighing in to encourage unhappy borrowers to switch providers. The Prime Minister yesterday tweeted his approval of NAB s decision. Good call not to lift mortgage rates. They seem to get it. NAB s share price, however, seemed to suggest investors were thinking about a lost opportunity to boost margins. NAB shares were down about 0.6 per cent in afternoon trade, compared to a slight gain for CBA and declines of about 0.2 per cent and 0.35 per cent for ANZ and Westpac. The other lenders out-ofcycle moves led to economists last week suggesting the Reserve Bank of Australia would keep the cash rate on hold at a record low of 1.5 per cent for even longer than previously thought. The RBA, which has not moved on rates since August 2016, would be wary of increasing the load on borrowers and decreasing the amount they can spend elsewhere and could even cut the cash rate if the banks hike further, AMP economist Shane Oliver said. Westpac was the first to raise interest rates on variable interest home loans, hitting customers with higher rates despite making huge profits. ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank both announced their rate rises on Thursday within hours of each other.

79 Canberra Times, Canberra Author: Elizabeth Knight Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 17,579 Page: 18 Printed Size: cm² Market: ACT Country: Australia ASR: AUD 20,132 Words: 591 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 Can NAB buy customer trust and at what cost? COMMENT Elizabeth Knight National Australia Bank has a new product for sale it s called trust. Its decision to separate itself from the banking pack and not increase mortgage rates won t deliver customer trust, but it might buy it some market share. But most of all it s a very clever public relations move and not a particularly expensive one. It will probably cost the bank between $10 million and $15 million a month. In the scheme of NAB s $6.6 billion profit last year, it s not a big deal. One of the greatest criticisms of banks is that they act as a herd they are large oligopolies and therefore there is a serious lack of competition between them. NAB has just made a case that there is room among the big four for a bit of difference or at least the appearance of a bit of difference. In doing so, it has done its competitors a favour as well. The move smacks of being tactical rather than strategic. This renegade bank has made no promises on whether or when it might increase rates. It could be in a couple of months if the pressure on its costs doesn t ease. In mounting its case, NAB said it would have been easy for it to follow the other banks. That s debatable. Reason one is that it had a better quarterly report than its peers in the latest filing so less of an excuse to cry poor. NAB has a larger emphasis on business lending and a smaller share of mortgages relative to the two big banks, Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank, so NAB raising mortgage rates is not as crucial. Second, NAB in recent months has been bombarded with a series of negative headlines regarding the behaviour of its superannuation business thanks to the royal commission and the decision by the regulator to take legal action against it for charging fees for no service. If ever there was a time that NAB needed to create some goodwill, it is now. Thus, this was a wellorchestrated campaign designed to achieve maximum exposure by having chief executive Andrew Thorburn hit the airwaves with talk about putting the bank s arms around its customers and rewarding their loyalty. For those with any corporate memory, this campaign will have a touch of deja vu. Back in 2011, it was NAB that mounted the breaking-up with the other big banks marketing campaign. It reduced fees, but more particularly left interest rates below its peers over a sustained period. It ended in tears for NAB when eventually it needed to get together again. The separation was painful for NAB and the reconciliation was painful for the customers when NAB was forced to lift rates to catch up to the others. NAB insists its new push to look after customers instead of shareholders is not Break-Up 2.0 rather it s make-up with its clients an exercise in brand building. Australia s new Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, seems impressed. He has described the decision as a good call. Looks like the PR is already working. If ever there was a time that NAB needed to create some goodwill, it is now.

80 Canberra Times, Canberra Author: Elizabeth Knight Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 17,579 Page: 18 Printed Size: cm² Market: ACT Country: Australia ASR: AUD 20,132 Words: 591 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 Home Alone NAB, which has the smallest share of thehomeloanmarket,hasoptednotto follow its peers in lifting rates... for now. Residential mortgage portfolio (outstanding balances) $413 billion $398 billion 25% 24% $256 billion $252 billion 15% 15% % share of residential mortgages SOURCE: ACCC; MARKET SHARE AS AT DECEMBER 2017 NAB CEO Andrew Thorburn. Photo: Bloomberg

81 Canberra Times, Canberra Author: Elizabeth Knight Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 17,579 Page: 19 Printed Size: cm² Market: ACT Country: Australia ASR: AUD 10,040 Words: 631 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 What risk? Multibillion foreign investor gives Australia big tick ANALYSIS Elizabeth Knight Canberra s political circus is definitely embarrassing. Australian businesses regularly cry that international investors will shun Australia thanks to policy or political uncertainty. But ask the head of one of the world s biggest pension funds whether we are a no-go zone and he seemed bemused. The $350 billion Canadian pension fund CPPI has been a longterm and consistent investor in Australia in infrastructure, real estate and technology. Mention the concept of sovereign risk and the response is what risk? This group invests worldwide. It has to navigate real tensions in emerging markets such as the US- China trade war, to say nothing of hotspots in Turkey and Argentina. The whole notion that Scott Morrison represents a bigger or smaller risk than Malcolm Turnbull or Labor s Bill Shorten is pretty strange for international investment funds that need to weigh up putting money into seriously unstable regimes. Most recently, CPPI was a major player in the consortium that took at 51 per cent stake in NSW government s privatisation of WestConnex investing about $1.8 billion. The laundry list of its investments is long and spans more than a decade. Right now it has 11 per cent of its $C366 billion ($390 billion) capital invested in Australia and with good reason. We are very comfortable here, says chief executive Mark Machin. It s as close as you can get to Canada in the world a similar legal system and the predictability of regulation and (despite lots of changes of governments) it s a place where we feel we can buy Continued Page 20 What risk? Investor gives big tick From Page 19 assets and hold them for the longer term because it is very comfortable business climate. We have invested through multiple governments and there has been a predictability of regulation and policy with respect to foreign investment and tax. We are superlong-term investors. We hold for the life of the assets so when we are paying finely chiselled prices we want to have continuity in regulatory issues and tax over many years. And for this the Canadians are willing to pay the price. Machin is clear enough that the WestConnex investment didn t come cheap. I would say the NSW government ran a... robust process and got a lot of competition and a very good price, he says. Why? Because the supply of good infrastructure assets is limited, particularly in the counties in which these funds want to invest. There is not enough supply, not sufficient predictable pipeline of opportunities around the world and a huge amount of capital is chasing it, he says. With all that capital in pursuit assets are now looking fully valued. Machin says it is a fabulous time for governments to raise infrastructure-related capital but bemoans that most governments around the world find it difficult to get their act together, to get processes started and completed. This doesn t mean that CPPI even as a long-term investor doesn t concern itself with the immediate prognosis of the world markets and the world economy. I don t think we think we are in bubble territory. The underlying economic growth in the US growth has been extraordinarily robust but growth continues to come through and inflation around the world had been incredibly muted, he says. Debt exists across governments and other areas and it has to be paid off $US500 trillion in debt has to be worked through somehow. So here is the warning: We shouldn t expect double-digit returns from our fund for the next few years [which means] more muted returns. But funds like this (and our Future Fund) rely on assessing the longer term big picture. We are super-longterm investors. Mark Machin, CPPI chief

82 Canberra Times, Canberra Author: Elizabeth Knight Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 17,579 Page: 19 Printed Size: cm² Market: ACT Country: Australia ASR: AUD 10,040 Words: 631 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 Mark Machin, president and chief executive officer of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Photo: Bloomberg

83 Canberra Times, Canberra Author: LUKE COSTIN Section: Business News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 17,579 Page: 19 Printed Size: cm² Market: ACT Country: Australia ASR: AUD 5,404 Words: 406 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Federal Court judge questions record $35m Westpac fine COURTS Luke Costin A Federal Court judge has baulked at Westpac s offer to pay a record $35 million fine over its irresponsible mortgage lending practices. The country s oldest bank and the corporate regulator last week agreed to the record fine after Westpac conceded it wrongly assessed people s ability to repay mortgages between December 2011 and March 2015, by relying on a benchmark for customer expenses. Yesterday Federal Court judge Nye Perram questioned how Westpac and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission had arrived at the penalty that is nearly double that of the largest fine awarded under the National Credit Act. He said he had to play devil s advocate given Westpac and ASIC had agreed on the facts including that the bank s conduct was an innocent mistake. Justice Perram confirmed with ASIC s barrister that it was a goodfaith breach which hasn t caused any loss and damage, and pointed out the fine was significantly higher than previous penalties handed out for irresponsible lending. These included ANZ s $5 million penalty over car loans and Thorn, the owners of Radio Rentals, copping $2 million over the issuing of 270,000 leases. One thing which troubles me a little bit is I look at the Thorn case, ASIC v Thorn, Justice Perram said. And that was in relation to 275,000 consumer leases and the penalty was $2 million. They re roughly taking a generous view, but the relevant number for your purposes is 260,000 rather than 10 and a half thousand. That s a huge 25 difference in the size of the penalty. Jeremy Kirk, Westpac s barrister, argued the court wasn t required to decide whether it was the appropriate penalty but only had to be assured it was an appropriate penalty. The case centred on Westpac using a statistics-based household expenditure measure to automatically calculate a customer s ability to repay a loan regardless of whether that HEM figure was lower than the customer had declared as their monthly expenses. Four per cent of the 262,000 home loans automatically approved under the HEM method should have been referred to a credit officer for assessment, but weren t. ASIC argued the penalty was appropriate given a number of factors, including the relative size of home loans to other consumer loans, the sector s importance to Westpac s bottom line and the overall size of Westpac and its main competitors. Justice Perram reserved his decision until a later date. AAP with Clancy Yeates Westpac agreed to the penalty.

84 Cairns Post, Cairns Author: Anthony Keane Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 13,896 Page: 7 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 2,809 Words: 313 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 Gen X and Y watch dream of early retirement fade ANTHONY KEANE GENERATION X wants to retire at 63 but believe they will need to work almost a decade longer to be able to afford it. Research by ING has found that Gen X those aged 39 to 53 believe they will need an average $1.5 million nest egg. However, they don t believe they will reach that financial milestone until age 72, and more than half are yet to start planning for retirement. Generation Y aged 24 to 38 want to retire at 61, believe they will need more money $1.74 million and won t have that until age 68, the research found. ING head of retail banking Melanie Evans said the findings suggested a lack of knowledge about superannuation and retirement among people under 50. Some were unsure where to start, others focused more on mortgages and shortterm living expenses. Many of them haven t sat down and worked out a plan so they re just making assumptions, she said. Ms Evans said it was never too early to start retirement planning. Start seeing super as your money, she said. It s nearly one in 10 dollars you earn. The research involving 2000 people also found Baby Boomers were more likely to spend their children s inheritance. Pivot Wealth founder and financial adviser Ben Nash said young generations had high aspirations for retirement and did not feel that the pension would be enough. Their parents generation felt the age pension was their right but the reality has set in that... it s difficult to maintain a lifestyle at a level that most people want with this money alone, he said. The age pension pays a maximum of $ a fortnight and for Generation X and younger cannot be claimed until the age of 67.

85 Cairns Post, Cairns Author: Anthony Keane Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 13,896 Page: 7 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 2,809 Words: 313 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 CONCERNS: Retirees Jan Corcoran, 70, and Thelma Bryan, 88, share time together at Mercy Place in Westcourt. Picture: BRENDAN RADKE

86 Cairns Post, Cairns Author: Peter Carruthers Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 13,896 Page: 7 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 682 Words: 285 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Cairns retirees celebrate in the wake of PM s move PETER CARRUTHERS RETIREES have ed Prime Minister Scott Morrison s plan to track on a move made by former PM Tony Abbott. The plan to reverse the budget decision to increase the age retirees become eligible for the old-age pension from 70 to 67 was welcome news, according to Cairns retirees, among them Thelma Bryan. There are many people who are tired and ill by the time they reach their late 60s, Ms Bryan said. She retired quite early but for many the end of work at 70 is too late to really enjoy twilight years in retirement. Ms Bryan s sentiments were echoed by the Cairns chapter of the Association of Independent Retirees last week, but the organisation did raise concerns about the government losing tax revenue. A Productivity Commission report published in 2013 estimated the move would cost the Federal Government $150 billion over 50 years. Federal Labor, which increased the age from 65 to 67 when it was in government, has argued that increasing the age to 70 would leave Australia behind many countries. Among developed countries with under-70 retirement are the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Spain, France, Japan and Singapore. HOW TO KEEP ON TOP OF REGULATIONS CHANGES to the way superannuation funds are managed came into effect on July 1. Products include: Excess concessional contributions determination (ECC) Excess non-concessional contributions determination (ENCC) Excess non-concessional contributions tax assessment (ENCCT) Notice of assessment for Division 293 tax (Div 293) Changes will take effect for elections from the financial year onwards for excess contributions products, and the financial year onwards for Div 293. To get a quick monthly , subscribe to the Australian Government s update service by ing SuperNews@ato.gov.au

87 Canberra Times, Canberra Author: Clancy Yeates Sarah Danckert Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 17,579 Page: 7 Printed Size: cm² Market: ACT Country: Australia ASR: AUD 8,862 Words: 670 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 ROYAL COMMISSION Insurers admit to hundreds of cases of poor conduct Clancy Yeates Sarah Danckert The nation s best-known insurance companies have admitted a litany of misconduct including wrongly denying claims, overcharging customers and mis-selling policies, the Hayne royal commission has heard. As the commission turns its attention to the insurance sector this week, the opening address from senior counsel assisting, Rowena Orr QC, on Monday outlined a series of admissions that insurance giants made in their submissions to the inquiry. The insurers acknowledgments of misconduct, which relate to the past 10 years, come ahead of hearings that will this week focus on poor practices in the life insurance sector before next week turning to general insurance, and regulation. There are 16.9 million life insurance policies in Australia, which collect $18.3 billion in direct premiums from customers each year. The majority of these policies are included as part of people s superannuation policies, while other policies are sold by financial advisers or in call centres. Ms Orr said life insurance giants had paid out more than $6 billion in commissions in about five years underlining the key role that potentially conflicted remuneration still plays in this industry. Clearview, which was the subject of the commission s first case study and admitted to 303,000 criminal breaches over its coldcalling tactics, told the commission that it had found 225 instances related to life insurance that might amount to misconduct or conduct below community expectations, Ms Orr said. Sixteen of these involved misselling. Ms Orr revealed a roll call of Australia s biggest insurers had admitted to issues. Insurance Australia Group which operates brands including NRMA, CGU, SGIO, Swann and Lumley Insurance admitted to 112 instances of misconduct, Ms Orr said, including some systemic issues relating to its handling of claims. National Australia Bank acknowledged 37 insurance-related incidents of misconduct or conduct below community standards. One example involved members being incorrectly rejected, or paid out less than they were owed. NAB s MLC business acknowledged misconduct in relation to life insurance, having reported 40 legal breaches to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) or the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) in the past decade. Commonwealth Bank admitted 60 instances of misconduct, of which more than 30 related to life insurance. Examples included its reliance on out-of-date medical definitions for heart attack and rheumatoid arthritis, as exposed by Fairfax Media, and the sale of unsuitable consumer credit insurance to about 65,000 customers. Life insurer TAL admitted to 31 cases of misconduct, such as sales practices that included misleading television and online advertisements, Ms Orr said. The commission will also turn its gaze to the treatment of mental health and mental illness in life insurance claims by TAL and the group super policies offered to members of REST Super and AMP. Suncorp, which sells cover under brands including AAMI, GIO, APIA and Bingle, also acknowledged an unspecified number of incidences of misconduct or conduct that fell below community expectations, Ms Orr said. Allianz identified 49 incidences of miscon-

88 Canberra Times, Canberra Author: Clancy Yeates Sarah Danckert Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 17,579 Page: 7 Printed Size: cm² Market: ACT Country: Australia ASR: AUD 8,862 Words: 670 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 duct, including incorrectly debiting customers bank accounts in 2013, and failures to respond to 6000 travel insurance claims promptly. AMP acknowledged possible misconduct, including the churning of customers from one AMP policy to another in order to help generate commissions for financial advisers. Youi, which has about 1 million policies in force, acknowledged 12 cases of misconduct, including some relating to catastrophe claims. These were because it did not tell customers they were entitled to seek a review of their claim, in line with the industry s code of practice. ANZ Bank s OnePath business admitted to 17 instances of misconduct over the past five years relating to insurance. Westpac admitted to misconduct or conduct that fell below community expectations in insurance, and a document filed with the commission earlier this year listed more than 250 insurance incidents, Ms Orr said. Global insurance giant QBE did not make any acknowledgments of misconduct in its submission, Ms Orr said, but it pointed to issues including add-on insurance sold through car dealers, where it has refunded about $15.9 million to tens of thousands of customers. The hearing continues.

89 Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney Author: Clancy Yeates Sarah Danckert Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 88,634 Page: 6 Printed Size: cm² Market: NSW Country: Australia ASR: AUD 25,692 Words: 642 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 ROYAL COMMISSION Insurers admit litany of misconduct Clancy Yeates Sarah Danckert The nation s best-known insurance companies have admitted a litany of misconduct including wrongly denying claims, overcharging customers and mis-selling policies, the Hayne royal commission has heard. As the commission turns its attention to the insurance sector this week, the opening address from senior counsel assisting, Rowena Orr, QC, yesterday outlined a series of admissions that insurance giants made in their submissions to the inquiry. The insurers acknowledgements of misconduct, which relate to the past 10 years, come ahead of hearings that will this week focus on poor practices in the life insurance sector before next week turning to general insurance and regulation. There are 16.9 million life insurance policies in Australia, which collect $18.3 billion in direct premiums from customers each year. The majority of these policies are included as part of people s superannuation policies, while other policies are sold by financial advisers or in call centres. Ms Orr said life insurance giants had paid out more than $6 billion in commissions in about five years underlining the key role that potentially conflicted remuneration still plays in this industry. Clearview, which was the subject of the commission s first case study and admitted to 303,000 criminal breaches over its coldcalling tactics, told the commission it had found 225 instances related to life insurance that might amount to misconduct or conduct below community expectations, Ms Orr said. Sixteen of these involved mis-selling. Ms Orr revealed a roll call of Australia s biggest insurers had admitted to issues. Insurance Australia Group which operates brands including NRMA, CGU, SGIO, Swann and Lumley Insurance admitted to 112 instances of misconduct, Ms Orr said, including some systemic issues relating to its handling of claims. National Australia Bank acknowledged 37 insurance-related incidents of misconduct or conduct below community standards. NAB s MLC business acknowledged misconduct in relation to life insurance, having reported 40 legal breaches to ASIC or APRA in the past decade. Commonwealth Bank admitted 60 instances of misconduct, of which more than 30 related to life insurance. Examples included its reliance on out-of-date medical definitions for heart attack and rheumatoid arthritis, as exposed by the Herald, and the sale of unsuitable consumer credit insurance to about 65,000 customers. Life insurer TAL admitted to 31 cases of misconduct, such as sales practices that included misleading television and online advertisements, Ms Orr said. The commission will also turn its gaze to the treatment of mental health and mental illness in life insurance claims by TAL and the group super policies offered to members of REST Super and AMP. Suncorp, which sells cover under brands including AAMI, GIO, APIA and Bingle, also acknowledged an unspecified number of incidences of misconduct or conduct that fell below community expectations, Ms Orr said. Allianz identified 49 incidences of misconduct, including incorrectly debiting customers bank accounts in 2013, and failures to respond to 6000 travel insurance claims promptly. AMP acknowledged possible misconduct, including the churning of customers from one AMP policy to another in order to generate commissions for financial advisers. Youi, which has about 1 million policies in force, acknowledged 12 cases of misconduct, including some relating to catastrophe claims. These were because it did not tell customers they were entitled to seek a review of their claim, in line with the industry s code of practice. ANZ Bank s OnePath business admitted to 17 instances of misconduct in insurance over the past five years relating to insurance. Westpac admitted to misconduct or conduct that fell below community expectations in insurance and a document filed with the commission earlier this year listed more than 250 insurance incidents, Ms Orr said. Global insurance giant QBE did not make any acknowledgments of misconduct in its submission, Ms Orr said, but it pointed to issues including add-on insurance sold through car dealers, where it has refunded about $15.9 million to tens of thousands of customers.

90 Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton QLD Author: Anthony Keane Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 9,376 Page: 20 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 315 Words: 573 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 GenX,Ywanttoretireyounger ANTHONY KEANE GENERATION X wants to retire at 63 but believe they will need to work almost a decade longer to be able to afford it. New research by ING has found that gen X those aged 39 to 53 believe they will need an average $1.5 million nest egg. However they don t think they will be financially ready to reach that until age 72 and more than half haven t yet started planning for retirement. Generation Y aged 24 to 38 want to retire earlier, at 61, think they will need more money $1.74 million and won t have it until age 68, the research found. ING head of retail banking Melanie Evans said the findings suggested a lack of knowledge about super and retirement among people aged under 50. Some were unsure where to start, others focused more on mortgages and shortterm living expenses and many wanted to maintain or improve their lifestyles when they retired and know that comes at a higher cost, she said. Many of them haven t sat down and worked out a plan so they re just making assumptions, she said. Ms Evans said it was never too early to start retirement planning and getting advice was important. Start seeing super as your money, she said. It s nearly one in 10 dollars you earn. Track it as you would a savings account or mortgage. ING s research involved 2000 people and also found that baby boomers were more likely than younger generations to spend their children s inheritances. As the first generation with superannuation earnings for a large portion of their working life, they also feel as though they ve earned it and it s theirs to enjoy, Ms Evans said. Pivot Wealth founder and financial adviser Ben Nash said young generations had high aspirations for retirement and did not feel that the pension would be enough. I think the boomers and their parents generation felt the age pension was their right but now the reality has set in that in today s society it s difficult to maintain a lifestyle at a level that most people want with this money alone, he said. The younger someone is, the higher their expectations generally are around the lifestyle they want to live. The age pension currently pays a maximum $ a fortnight and for gen X and younger can t be claimed until age 67. Last week Prime Minister Scott Morrison scrapped longterm plans to raise the pension age to 70. Planning for Prosperity senior financial adviser Bob Budreika said people s ideas about retirement used fairly crude figures that did not factor in whether they would spend less as they aged or use a combination of pension and their own money. I hear generation X and Y say the pension probably won t be there when we get there. People are preparing to be selfsufficient, he said. There will be some sort of social security there but I think the benefits will be less. Mr Budreika suggested people use retirement calculators at and super fund websites to project how much they needed. DIFFICULT TO MAINTAIN A LIFESTYLE IT S AT A LEVEL THAT MOST PEOPLE WANT... BEN NASH BIG PLANS: Research by ING has found that gen X those aged 39 to 53 believe they will need an average $1.5 million nest egg to retire.

91 Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton QLD Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 9,376 Page: 22 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 258 Words: 396 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 NAB goes alone on rates Bank ignores rivals moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (pictured) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ have over the past two weeks said they would raise their standard variable rates for owner-occupiers to 5.38 per cent, 5.37 per cent and 5.36 per cent, respectively. Mr Thorburn indicated that NAB s decision was a result of an environment in which huge profits and revelations of misconduct aired at the royal commission had damaged the big banks public standing. We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer, Mr Thorburn said. By focusing NAB s rivals drew criticism from customers and politicians, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison weighing in to encourage unhappy borrowers to switch providers. The Prime Minister yesterday tweeted his approval of NAB s decision. Good call not to lift mortgage rates. They seem to get it. NAB s share price, however, seemed to suggest investors were thinking about a lost opportunity to boost margins. NAB shares were down about 0.6 per cent in afternoon trade, compared to a slight gain for CBA and declines of about 0.2 per cent and 0.35 per cent for ANZ and Westpac. The other lenders out-ofcycle moves led to economists last week suggesting the Reserve Bank of Australia would keep the cash rate on hold at a record low of 1.5 per cent for even longer than previously thought. The RBA, which has not moved on rates since August 2016, would be wary of increasing the load on borrowers and decreasing the amount they can spend elsewhere and could even cut the cash rate if the banks hike further, AMP economist Shane Oliver said. Westpac was the first to raise interest rates on variable interest home loans, hitting customers with higher rates despite making huge profits. ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank both announced their rate rises on Thursday within hours of each other. more on our customers, we build trust and advocacy, and this creates a more sustainable business. The out-of-cycle hikes by

92 Morning Bulletin, Rockhampton QLD Section: Letters Article type : Letter Classification : Regional : 9,376 Page: 13 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 254 Words: 729 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 TEXTS TO THE EDITOR SMS the editor on with the word ROCK and a space in front of your message. BOB LANSDOWNE. Oh what a show... Cormann and Pyne play goodies-n-baddies with their deputy sheriff as he comes and goes. D KERR, KINKA BEACH. As one would expect, Bill Shorten s response (TMB 10/9) to his franking credit theft from the retirement income of ordinary Australian people, conveniently avoids a very unpalatable fact. Perhaps Labor candidate Robbo could explain to the ordinary people of Capricornia why it is that trade union-controlled industry superannuation funds and trade union investment funds containing share portfolios are EXEMPT from this impost? How does this align with Labor s fair go for all Australians mantra? RM ST LAWRENCE. In footy, if you argue with the ref you get 10, call him a thief, cheat, liar, and you re off. Should be same in all sport, including tennis, maybe the egotistical, tantrum throwing individuals would think twice about their behaviour, especially if the prize money was forfeited as well. As for playing the gender /mother/women s rights card, just another excuse for bad behaviour. ROBROY. Re Rob Forsythe, you forgot to mention about Labor doing special visas for their mate s nanny. VAC KOONGAL.Would like to say a big thank you to the two young gentleman who came to my assistance near the Base Hospital on Saturday morning when my car died. You were a Godsend, thank you once again. PB YEPPOON. Bill Shorten does not seem to understand that shareholders actually own part of a company by owning shares in it. So when the company pays tax it is actually the shareholder paying that tax, so when he says no tax was ever paid he shows a complete lack of understanding. CS, ROCKY. To MTMW, Monday s Bulletin. There is no such thing as an interest-raising account these days. All accounts paying less than 1 per cent interest, even term deposits. FH WANDAL. Final score in the US Open tennis: Umpire Ramos 10-0, Naomi Osaka 10-0, Serena Williams TGBT. Must be about time some new regulations were brought in with regards to gambling adverts. Cannot watch any sport without having the odds or some special deal where you cannot lose shoved in your face and do not get me started on clubs and their money draws for playing the pokies. TGGM. Here s the drift. If you want to raise funds, chuck the sausage sizzle and have a Buy a Burger promotion stall. JHTB. Sounds more like Jack is a Broncos hater more then a Manly fan. Unfortunately the Broncos were just not good enough this year, but as the saying goes, that s footy. ABAB. Yes yes yes Andrew Bolt you nailed it in one. Serena Williams is the bully not the victim. No excuse for her behaviour and the excuses were unbelievable. The one I feel for is Osaka, a beautiful young lady robbed of a special moment. WKS. I may be old school and I can somewhat understand the women s lib thing, but ladies, you do not need tats or studs to make you beautiful. Well at least not in my eyes. ANON. When are we going to get people in our government instead of kids? ROCK. With the continued media attention to workplace bullying, I was shocked to witness blatant occurrences. It was a doctor belittling a nurse in full view of fellow patients. To her credit she remained calm and maintained her professionalism. JUSTME. Re Fox Files: A little respect would have been nice - Queen Lizzie and Her Maj. At least you got a response, on paper and posted rather than or SMS. Would have been interested to read your letter to her. MOOSE, DEPOT HILL. Agree 100% with Jack Lewis. We know where our teams that we have been supporting all our lives went wrong this year. We don t need the so-called experts belittling our team. Hey, in a few years their teams will probably be travelling the same path. Hope so. KEN ROCKHAMPTON. Sorry if I ve offended anyone about Walker. The old saying the truth hurts. The Lone Ranger, he had an Indian sidekick called Tonto and his horse was called Silver! Hi ho Silver! Hope Donald Trump knows about Walker. He would be thrilled.

93 Newcastle Herald, Newcastle NSW Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 23,625 Page: 24 Printed Size: cm² Market: NSW Country: Australia ASR: AUD 6,349 Words: 347 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 NAB opts against a rise in mortgage rate NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn on Monday said National Australia Bank will continue to monitor funding conditions, but will continue to hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ have over the past two weeks said they would raise their standard variable rates for owner-occupiers to 5.38, 5.37 and 5.36 per cent. Mr Thorburn indicated that NAB s decision was a direct result of an environment in which huge profits and revelations of misconduct aired at the royal commission had damaged the big banks public standing. We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer, Mr Thorburn said. By focusing more on our customers, we build trust and advocacy, and this creates a more sustainable business. The out-of-cycle hikes by NAB s rivals drew criticism from customers and politicians, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison weighing in to encourage unhappy borrowers to switch providers. The prime minister on Monday tweeted his approval of NAB s decision. Good call not to lift mortgage rates. They seem to get it. NAB s share price, however, seemed to suggest investors were thinking about a lost opportunity to boost margins. NAB shares were downt in afternoon trade, compared to a slight gain for CBA and declines of about 0.49 and 0.4 per cent for ANZ and Westpac. The other lenders outof-cycle moves led to economists last week suggesting the Reserve Bank of Australia would keep the cash rate on hold at a record low of 1.5 per cent for even longer than thought. The RBA, which has not moved on rates since August 2016, would be wary of increasing the load on borrowers, decreasing the amount they can spend elsewhere in the economy.

94 Newcastle Herald, Newcastle NSW Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 23,625 Page: 24 Printed Size: cm² Market: NSW Country: Australia ASR: AUD 6,349 Words: 347 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 STAYING PUT: NAB chief AndrewThorburn says the bank will keep a hold on its home loan rate, for now. Picture: AAP

95 West Australian, Perth Author: Nick Evans Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 147,676 Page: 4 Printed Size: cm² Market: WA Country: Australia ASR: AUD 4,190 Words: 368 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Insurer admits 300,000 faults Nick Evans The first life insurance company hauled before the financial services royal commission has admitted to more than 300,000 criminal breaches of the law by unleashing an aggressive and deceptive sales force on low-income Australians. The admission came amid revelations that Australia s 10 biggest life insurance companies paid more than $6 billion in commissions to financial advisers over five years. Hearings later in the twoweek sessions are likely to be told about poor behaviour arising from the financial incentives on offer. Yesterday, the commission s gaze turned to Clearview Wealth a stockmarket-listed company born from NRMA s life insurance business and then owned by insurance giant BUPA and allegations the company had used highpressure sales techniques to hustle low-income earners into signing up to costly and near-useless products. Clearview Wealth chief risk officer Greg Martin admitted the company had breached criminal provisions in the Corporations Act, which ban financial services providers from cold-calling new clients to push insurance and other financial products, as many as 303,000 times over three years. Companies can contact potential customers only if they have had a chance to read contract documents before talking to a sales agent. The total possible fine for criminal misconduct, if prosecuted, could top $4 billion, given the maximum financial penalty for each breach is a maximum of $13,750. Mr Martin admitted many of those calls had been misleading or outright deceptive after being played recordings of Clearview sales agents coldcalling customers found in databases bought from thirdparty providers and, for 250,000 of the calls, provided by BUPA from its other insurance clients. One recorded call showed a client being deceived into thinking they had signed up to receive information as to whether they were eligible for life insurance cover when they had, in fact, signed up for a policy. A second showed a sales representative convincing an elderly cleaner, who had been knocked for life insurance because of a heart condition, to instead sign up for near-useless accidental death coverage. Clearview ditched its business selling life insurance direct to customers last year after the corporate watchdog raised concerns about its highpressure selling techniques. The royal commission will hold hearings into insurers for the next two weeks.

96 Gold Coast Bulletin, Gold Coast QLD Author: Terry McCrann Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 21,468 Page: 33 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 2,538 Words: 757 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 There will be trauma at the end of RC line TERRY MCCRANN THE single biggest over-arching message that has come out of the Banking Royal Commission is that the financial sector has been getting inappropriate income which has run and continues to run into the billions of dollars every year. Yesterday and for the next two weeks it was/will be a case of here we go again, as the inappropriate income which has flowed from customers to insurance companies will be detailed in agonising and often, entirely appropriately, embarrassing detail. These customers of insurance companies join those of banks for consumer and small business loans, those in the financial advisory chain, of superannuation more broadly, along with farmers and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, of all shown to have been paying money they should not have. Now I used the word inappropriate very deliberately, and for two reasons. The first is that the payments cover a very wide spectrum of behaviour from outright fraud to overcharging, whether deliberately and wrongly or through bureaucratic mistake or legitimately but not appropriately, to just plain entirely legal overcharging. The second is to caution against the simplistic belief that all we have to do, in the wake of the RC, is to just get rid of illegal or even the broader bad practices behaviour. My term inappropriate actually covers a much wider spectrum of charges that are paid by consumers charges which are entirely legal but were nevertheless unnecessarily excessive and are now arguably unsustainable. We should come out of this RC with those excess charges mostly flowing from our system of compulsory superannuation significantly reduced, just as much as those practices which generated income that were unambiguously illegal or unwarranted. Furthermore, this wouldn t be achieved simply by either the market or regulation sending superannuation money from the profit-driven retail funds to the industry funds. Yes, the latter might not need to generate a profit, but they ride on exactly the same excessive fees that permeate the investment and funds management industries. The central systemic consequence of the RC, therefore, is going to be must be to deprive the financial services sector of billions of dollars of income every year. I don t think anyone has really thought much about the widespread and necessarily traumatic consequences of such a loss of income, which cannot be simply replaced by appropriate charges. The idea that banks, insurance companies, superannuation funds, etc and their customers would all live happily ever after on fees structures that were ethical and appropriate really just does not wash. I m certainly not suggesting we stick with the established order: the entire financial system has been shown to be due a thorough cleansing. I would caution, though, against over-egging the degree of deliberate criminality. Once again, the old advice of a stuff up over a crime, is more indicative united with a combination of sloppy rather everyday incompetence and a masters of the universe - style arrogance. The critical point I want to highlight is that of the requirements and challenges of the post-post RC financial system. The post-rc system is now locked in the evidence of the RC. We will get more

97 Gold Coast Bulletin, Gold Coast QLD Author: Terry McCrann Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 21,468 Page: 33 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 2,538 Words: 757 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 laws, more regulation and more regulators. Just how effective that will be remains, of course, to be seen and not just over years, but decades. My point is about the post-post RC a financial system which has lost billions of dollars of income it used to take for granted. Very broadly, it s going to be dealt with, one way or another, by deliberate action or by default, efficiently or messily, in various combinations of three things. There will be increased upfront and visible charges to customers and massive and across-theboard reductions in both financial services employment and incomes. The third is a consequent reduction in the profitability of the sector. Those higher specific charges and cost cuts and a likely major consolidation of players will not be sufficient to sustain revenues and margins. We are not going to see the Commonwealth Bank again generate 20 per cent returns on equity, for example, in the foreseeable future and in this context, the future is foreseeable in decades. Further, this trauma is going to happen quite irrespective of, and so without taking any additional account of the digital disruption, which is only just beginning to shred financial services revenues and even more profits. It also takes no account of even a normal slowdown in the economy. And another GFC-style implosion: that would make life even more interesting.

98 Launceston Examiner, Launceston TAS Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 17,631 Page: 14 Printed Size: cm² Market: TAS Country: Australia ASR: AUD 2,321 Words: 347 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 NAB opts against a rise in mortgage rate NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn on Monday said National Australia Bank will continue to monitor funding conditions, but will continue to hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ have over the past two weeks said they would raise their standard variable rates for owner-occupiers to 5.38, 5.37 and 5.36 per cent. Mr Thorburn indicated that NAB s decision was a direct result of an environment in which huge profits and revelations of misconduct aired at the royal commission had damaged the big banks public standing. We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer, Mr Thorburn said. By focusing more on our customers, we build trust and advocacy, and this creates a more sustainable business. The out-of-cycle hikes by NAB s rivals drew criticism from customers and politicians, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison weighing in to encourage unhappy borrowers to switch providers. The prime minister on Monday tweeted his approval of NAB s decision. Good call not to lift mortgage rates. They seem to get it. NAB s share price, however, seemed to suggest investors were thinking about a lost opportunity to boost margins. NAB shares were downt in afternoon trade, compared to a slight gain for CBA and declines of about 0.49 and 0.4 per cent for ANZ and Westpac. The other lenders outof-cycle moves led to economists last week suggesting the Reserve Bank of Australia would keep the cash rate on hold at a record low of 1.5 per cent for even longer than thought. The RBA, which has not moved on rates since August 2016, would be wary of increasing the load on borrowers, decreasing the amount they can spend elsewhere in the economy.

99 Launceston Examiner, Launceston TAS Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 17,631 Page: 14 Printed Size: cm² Market: TAS Country: Australia ASR: AUD 2,321 Words: 347 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 STAYING PUT: NAB chief AndrewThorburn says the bank will keep a hold on its home loan rate, for now. Picture: AAP

100 Gold Coast Bulletin, Gold Coast QLD Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 21,468 Page: 34 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 1,782 Words: 396 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 NAB goes alone on rates Bank ignores rivals moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (pictured) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ have over the past two weeks said they would raise their standard variable rates for owner-occupiers to 5.38 per cent, 5.37 per cent and 5.36 per cent, respectively. Mr Thorburn indicated that NAB s decision was a result of an environment in which huge profits and revelations of misconduct aired at the royal commission had damaged the big banks public standing. We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer, Mr Thorburn said. By focusing more on our customers, we build trust and advocacy, and this creates a more sustainable business. The out-of-cycle hikes by NAB s rivals drew criticism from customers and politicians, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison weighing in to encourage unhappy borrowers to switch providers. The Prime Minister yesterday tweeted his approval of NAB s decision. Good call not to lift mortgage rates. They seem to get it. NAB s share price, however, seemed to suggest investors were thinking about a lost opportunity to boost margins. NAB shares were down about 0.6 per cent in afternoon trade, compared to a slight gain for CBA and declines of about 0.2 per cent and 0.35 per cent for ANZ and Westpac. The other lenders out-ofcycle moves led to economists last week suggesting the Reserve Bank of Australia would keep the cash rate on hold at a record low of 1.5 per cent for even longer than previously thought. The RBA, which has not moved on rates since August 2016, would be wary of increasing the load on borrowers and decreasing the amount they can spend elsewhere and could even cut the cash rate if the banks hike further, AMP economist Shane Oliver said. Westpac was the first to raise interest rates on variable interest home loans, hitting customers with higher rates despite making huge profits. ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank both announced their rate rises on Thursday within hours of each other.

101 Townsville Bulletin, Townsville QLD Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 16,484 Page: 28 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 1,487 Words: 396 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 NAB goes alone on rates Bank ignores rivals moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (pictured) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ have over the past two weeks said they would raise their standard variable rates for owner-occupiers to 5.38 per cent, 5.37 per cent and 5.36 per cent, respectively. Mr Thorburn indicated that NAB s decision was a result of an environment in which huge profits and revelations of misconduct aired at the royal commission had damaged the big banks public standing. We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer, Mr Thorburn said. By focusing more on our customers, we build trust and advocacy, and this creates a more sustainable business. The out-of-cycle hikes by NAB s rivals drew criticism from customers and politicians, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison weighing in to encourage unhappy borrowers to switch providers. The Prime Minister yesterday tweeted his approval of NAB s decision. Good call not to lift mortgage rates. They seem to get it. NAB s share price, however, seemed to suggest investors were thinking about a lost opportunity to boost margins. NAB shares were down about 0.6 per cent in afternoon trade, compared to a slight gain for CBA and declines of about 0.2 per cent and 0.35 per cent for ANZ and Westpac. The other lenders out-ofcycle moves led to economists last week suggesting the Reserve Bank of Australia would keep the cash rate on hold at a record low of 1.5 per cent for even longer than previously thought. The RBA, which has not moved on rates since August 2016, would be wary of increasing the load on borrowers and decreasing the amount they can spend elsewhere and could even cut the cash rate if the banks hike further, AMP economist Shane Oliver said. Westpac was the first to raise interest rates on variable interest home loans, hitting customers with higher rates despite making huge profits. ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank both announced their rate rises on Thursday within hours of each other.

102 Australian Financial Review, Australia Author: Patrick Durkin Section: Leadership Article type : News Item Classification : National : 44,635 Page: 42 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 4,652 Words: 591 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Treasury's directors push meets resistance Patrick Durkin Business groups are resisting a push by federal Treasury for the Hayne royal commission to recommend the annual election of directors, limit terms and impose restrictions on the number of board seats directors can hold. The little-noticed recommendation in Treasury's submission to the royal commission is gaining momentum among global investor groups ahead of annual shareholder meeting season with one of the world's biggest fund managers State Street Global Advisors among those supporting the push. The recommendation is expected to be picked up by the royal commission - now engaged in a fortnight of hearings on insurance - in its November hearings on governance issues before its final report due on February 1 next year. The Australian Institute of Company Directors is leading the fight against the proposed change, warning that it could create "unintended consequences" and encourage "risk-aversion or short-term thinking" by boards. Treasury - set to be led by Scott Morrison's former chief of staff Phil Gaetjens - said there was "merit in procedures that lead to a refreshing of boards" with strong arguments both for and against following the UK, which has introduced the mandatory annual re-election of directors. In Australia directors of listed entities are reelected every three years. "Annual re-election is considered to provide a regular and timely mechanism for boards and shareholders to consider individual director performance, thus improving the focus of directors on the need to be engaged in their role," Treasury said. The move is ed by global investors including head of asset stewardship for State Street Ben Colton, who said 88 per cent of S&P 500 companies in the United States also have annual director elections. "In our experience, we have found that the shift to annual director elections in the United Kingdom has helped foster an engagement culture that emphasises directors' accountability to shareholders by improving company responsiveness to investor demands," Mr Colton said. Treasury said another option for improving governance could be tenure limits of non-executive directors to, say, 10 years to ensure the independence of directors. Tenure limits are not mandated in Australia although the ASX Corporate Council Governance Principles require disclosure of director service and suggest boards assess whether a director has become too close to management or a substantial shareholder after 10 years of service. The UK Corporate Governance Code also doesn't impose a maximum period of tenure but does state non-executive directors should not be considered independent if they have served on the board for more than nine years. "Approaches in other countries vary, with some taking a similar approach to the UK, while others set legislated tenure limits as a non-executive director, ranging from five to 15 years," Treasury said. Treasury also points to other jurisdictions moving to strengthen the competency, capacity and composition of boards with the European Union adopting a directive limiting outside employment and board seats for financial firm directors to address the risk of over-committed directors. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is also reportedly considering limits on thenumberof directorships that can be held at any one time. In the submission, Treasury also called for enhanced disclosure of remuneration arrangements including considering extending disclosure from key management personnel to middle management and proposed extending the Bank Executive Accountability Regime to cover super funds and insurers. Treasury also warned the current regulatory framework favours investors over consumers, the stakeholders often most hurt by the failures emerging from the royal commission. Annual director elections in the UK has helped foster an engagement culture. Ben Colton, State Street, head of asset stewardship

103 Australian Financial Review, Australia Author: Ben Potter Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 44,635 Page: 11 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 15,938 Words: 1370 Item ID: Page 1 of 3 What economists are thinking about the next wave of reform Regulation Attention is being shifted to a German-style model. Ben Potter Breaking up the banks, circling them with industry superannuation funded banks or "people's banks" offering "no frills" retail banking out of Australia Post or the Reserve Bank, letting the Future Fund manage super, taxing "economic rents" instead of company profits. In short, ditching our Anglo-Saxon model of capitalism for a "Germanstyle" version. These are just a few of the ideas some of Australia's finest economic and financial minds - including some of the engine drivers of the last great reform wave of the 1980s and 1990s - are mulling over as they contemplate an economy that 10 years after the global financial crisis still isn't delivering for all Australians. If s a bracing menu, and a sign that the problems below the surface of Australia's solid economy - misconduct by banks, rent-seeking across the business landscape, weak wages growth and angry voters - are reinvigorating debate about economic reform. "Economic rents are becoming a larger and larger part of the Australian economy, and if we want improved economic performance... and improved distribution of income then we are going to have to do something about that," top economist Ross Garnaut told the Melbourne Economic Forum on banking last week. The staunchest industry super fund advocate could not have imagined in his or her wildest dreams the mugging commercial banks would receive at the royal commission. They emerged "riddled with conflict and obsessed with extracting profits from customers in any way conceivable", Paul Kofman, dean of business and economics at the University of Melbourne, told the same forum. Industry super funds have been locked in a struggle with bank-owned retail super funds, and the royal commission shone a light on customer ripoffs and blatant misconduct by banks has accelerated flows out of bank funds and helped industry funds to become the largest player in the market Venture capitalist Mark Carnegie reckons industry funds will not only win super business from the banks; they'll seize a quarter of their banking business as well. Thafs the market response. But what about the policy response? The banks' record suggests we got that wrong. The Wallis inquiry was all about informed customers making rational choices in a competitive market It spawned 100-page product disclosure statements, and hundreds of barely differentiated commodity financial products for which the banks charged a premium. "Economics underestimated the vice of confusopoly" - the incentive to make something simple complex to hide the real price - Grattan Institute chief executive John Daley told the forum. His solution is to mandate simpler products and only allow financial advisers to charge an upfront fee. "Everything else is conflicted." Allan Fels, a former chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and dean of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government reckons the solution is to break up the banks or at least separate their banking and financial advice and super businesses. For good measure he would give the ACCC -up powers over finance to stiffen the spine of the "very weak" Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Carnegie says industry funds should beef up their ME Bank with a $1 billion capital raising to better compete with the big banks. He also likes economist Nicholas Gruen's idea for the Reserve Bank of Australia to offer low-cost retail "no-frills" banking services via the internet But he would take that a step further and let Australia Post do the same thing using its existing BillPay retail platform. By the same token, the Future Fund could offer "no-frills" super accounts. These ideas can be challenged. Outgoing Productivity Commission chairman Peter Harris said the government would inevitably have to top up people's accounts with a default national super fund if markets turned sour. The commission's recommendation in a draft report is for banks to appoint a chief integrity officer or whistleblower - like an airline's chief pilot - with an obligation to go to the regulator if safety was at risk. Economist John Freebairn worried that too much government involvement could stifle innovation. Still, the information failure suggests "neoclassical economics has a thing or two to learn", Freebairn said. Garry Weaven, one of the architects of the superannuation system, told the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees conference last week that industry funds are now big enough to finance the social infrastructure that society desperately needs but governments are reluctant to. Aged care facilities, affordable housing, education and innovations such as government electric vehicle fleets could all fall under this umbrella. Carnegie described this as a shift away from an Anglo-Saxon model of capitalism based on competition in a free market and minimum regulation towards German-style participatory capitalism, in which workers take a role in supervising companies and state governments are involved in banking and the economy. This would be anathema to Australian businesses and policymakers who've seen Germany's economic model as inferior to the Anglo-Saxon version. Still, Carnegie says it would be a good thing. "The Germans seem to be doing just fine," he said. Ross Garnaut professor of economics and one of the architects of the Hawke-Keating reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, told the Melbourne Eco-

104 Australian Financial Review, Australia Author: Ben Potter Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 44,635 Page: 11 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 15,938 Words: 1370 Item ID: Page 2 of 3 nomic Forum that Australia's economic rent-seeking problems are as bad as the ones in the 1970s that sparked those reforms. In the 1970s Australian manufacturers, utilities, banks and other businesses sheltered behind high tariffs, quotas and regulations and extracted premiums from their customers for delivering mediocre products and services. It was bad enough to trigger a wave of change that swept away those barriers and forced suppliers to be more competitive. Today, Garnaut said, rent-seeking oligopolies are, if anything, even more entrenched. "The concentration of business income taxation on economic rent is more important now and in Australia than at earlier times and in other countries," he wrote in The Australian Financial Review. Rents are excess returns on capital above the rate required to justify an investment in the first place. The more rent extracted from the economy by oligopolies, the less value consumers and workers take out of it "A high proportion of business income in Australia is now generated in such rent-heavy sectors as resources (mineral rents), banking (regulatory and concentration rents), real estate (land rents), retailing (concentration rents), information technology (intellectual property and network rents), energy transmission (network and regulatory rents), generation (concentration rents) and retail (concentration rents)." Garnauf s solution is to ditch the existing system of taxing company profits after deducting all expenses including interest on borrowings, depreciation and so on, and replace it with a tax on cashflow or rent The rent tax would allow immediate expensing of all capital expenditure, and exclude deductions for interest payments and imported services that are not demonstrably at arms length from assessable income. This would boost business investment, growth in output innovation, labour demand and eventually wages while removing the main avenues for evasion and avoidance of Australian taxation by multinational corporations - deductions for interest and overseas-sourced intellectual property, Garnaut wrote. It would maintain federal revenues by taxing banks and other companies earning rents more heavily than firms operating in competitive markets. Reforms like this require a long period of debate and hard work and are fiercely opposed by vested interests, and sometimes not welcomed by either major political party because they are extremely hard to sell. Still, if s noteworthy that some of the architects and drivers of the 1980s and 1990s reform wave feel that if s time to get the band together - with some new musicians and a new album. Economics could be about to get interesting again. Allan Fels (former ACCC chairman): He says the solution is to break up the banks or separate their banking and financial advice and super businesses.

105 Australian Financial Review, Australia Author: Ben Potter Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 44,635 Page: 11 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 15,938 Words: 1370 Item ID: Page 3 of 3 OUF Ross Garnaut (economist): "Economic rents are becoming a larger and larger part of trie Australian economy." Nicholas Gruen (economist): The Reserve Bank should offer lowcost retail, no-fritfe banking services via the internet Mark Carnegie (venture capitalist}; Industry funds will not only win super business from the banks, they'll seize a quarter of their banking business as well..-> John Daley (CEO Grattan Institute): "Economics underestimated the vice of confusopoly'' - the incentive to make something simple complex to hide the real price.

106 Australian Financial Review, Australia Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 44,635 Page: 48 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 7,666 Words: 605 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 Chanticleer For crowing there was not his equal in all the land... Canada shows big is beautiful If the future of Australia's superannuation sector revolves around a handful of mega-sized industry funds, each with more than $200 billion in assets, then Canada's pension industry provides the ideal place for some crystal ball gazing. The Canadians have two of the top 20 pension funds in the world - the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. These funds are very familiar to local institutional investors, investment bankers and lawyers because of their seemingly insatiable appetite for unlisted assets. The Canadian fundsbenefit from having member funds locked in for the life of each member, which allows them greater certainty in the management of liabilities. They are either defined benefit in the case of the Ontario fund or target benefit in the case of the CPP. The Canadian funds do seem to support the main arguments in favour of consolidation which include better investment performance, lower costs and stronger governance. These issues were explored in some depth by McKinsey & Co in a paper published this month titled "Is big really beautiful? The limits of pension consolidation". It was written by Eser Keskiner and Robin Matthias. The McKinsey consultants found that large pension funds do have better access to the most attractive investment opportunities, have recently outperformed smaller funds and definitely have lower costs. But gross returns show no correlation with fund size. To gain first-hand insights into how mega-funds operate Chanticleer turned to Mark Machin, president and chief executive of the CPP Investment Board, responsible for managing $C366 billion in assets. Machin is a former Goldman Sachs investment banker who once worked alongside Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull there. He has carved out a reputation among local investors as a savvy deal maker. Mega-funds like the CPP Investment Board are significant players in infrastructure around the world, but particularly in Australia. It owns 25 per cent of the NorthConnex tunnel, 25 per cent of the Westlink M7 toll road, a majority interest in BAI Communications/Broadcast Australia and 33 per cent of Pacific National. Earlier this month, CPP Investment Board invested about $1.8 billion as part of Transurban's winning $9.3 billion WestConnex consortium. It has invested a total of $C11 billion in Australia in real estate, equities, infrastructure and direct investment The CCP Investment Board's asset allocation is heavily weighted towards unlisted assets. Last week Chanticleer warned of the dangers of industry funds having 30 to 40 per cent of assets in illiquid assets but Machin says he is happy with 50 per cent of his total investments in unlisted assets. The level of unlisted investments in industry funds differs greatly with some well in excess of 40 per cent and others with a lot less. The latest data from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority shows that the average exposure to unlisted investments is 19 per cent of the $615 billion in total assets in industry funds at June 30, Machin says that 50 per cent of unlisted assets is prudent and the liquidity risks can be managed given the liability profile of the CPP. The 10-year annualised nominal rate of return of the CPP Investment Board is 8 per cent. Its real rate of return in the 10 years to June was 6.4 per cent CPP Investment Board has certainly AFRGA1 A048 NR shown the benefits of economies of scale. Its investment management costs about 30 basis points. One important aspect of the CPP Investment Board operations is that about 80 per cent of all assets under management are managed in-house. This points to a world where there are fewer external investment managers apart from private equity and specialist hedge fund managers.

107 Australian Financial Review, Australia Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 44,635 Page: 48 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 7,666 Words: 605 Item ID: Page 2 of 2

108 Australian Financial Review, Australia Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 44,635 Page: 48 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 6,007 Words: 715 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Chanticleer For crowing there was not his equal in all the land... Why NAB's rates strategy may not work National Australia Bank's decision to not raise its standard variable home loan rates in response to rising funding costs has echoes of its previous failed efforts to strengthen customer loyalty through price differentiation. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn is following in the footsteps of his predecessor Cameron Clyne who famously introduced the "break-up" campaign, which urged customers of the other banks to leave the other big three banks and join NAB. The campaign included cutting various bank fees by about $300 million. This forced other banks to cut fees by a similar amount But Thorburn says his rates-on-hold strategy is not a repeat of the break-up campaign. He says it is not about customer acquisition, its actually about customer retention. Clyne followed up the "break-up" campaign with the release of a national advertising campaign with the slogan "more give, less take". The campaign was accompanied by more-aggressive pricing of products and this did result in increased market share for NAB in mortgages and other financial products. But it had no noticeable impact upon the total shareholder returns earned by the bank's shareholders. Clyne was credited with changing the culture of NAB during his four years as CEO from 2009 until But the Hayne royal commission has exposed cultural failings inside the retail bank and in the wealth management division. On Monday morning Thorburn told the top 50 executives at NAB that the decision not to raise home loan rates was a "chance to look after the customer". He told staff NAB would hold off raising rates for as long as possible. He later told Chanticleer that NAB wanted to do things differently given the Hayne inquiry and the need to rebuild trust He is particularly concerned at the longstanding practice of banks discounting loans for new customers. "It's probably not a long-term economic model to have aggressive front-book discounting when your existing clients are not getting the same sort of deal," he says. Thorburn says the decision to keep rates on hold should "create a new conversation about whether the existing practices really make a lot of sense in the long run". It is believed the decision will cost NAB at least $150 million. This could be money well spent The favourable publicity could send a message to the community that NAB is different from its peers. It could be seen as having learnt the lesson from the Hayne inquiry by putting customer interests ahead of the interests of shareholders. Then again, the opaque nature of mortgage pricing will tend to work against NAB's attempt at price leadership. Australia is one of the few mortgage markets in the world where it is virtually impossible to compare mortgage interest rates across institutions. NAB says it is holding its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent which puts it about 14 basis points below the highest rate offered by one of its big three bank peers. But the actual interest rate paid by a mortgage customer in Australia depends on how smart the customer is in seeking a deal or even the luck of the draw when contacting a bank representative. Special deals offering 70-basis-point discounts are commonplace. Changing the culture within NAB is a mammoth task, according to a former senior executive within the business banking division, David Hornery. He tells Chanticleer there is a systemic cultural problem with NAB that is almost impossible to change. Admittedly, Hornery is talking his own book as co-chief executive of small business lending outfit Judo Capital. The Judo Capital strategy is to compete with the big banks primarily on the quality of service and not on price. It is this distinction that could get lost in Thorburn's decision to keep rates on hold. NAB's shareholders have reason to be nervous about Thorburn's strategy. Firstly, price leadership did not deliver higher returns in the past Secondly, Australia's banks are more reliant on interest income for profitability than other developed banking markets. But Thorbum says banks don't have to make a binary choice between serving customers and serving shareholders. Instead, serving customers well should deliver "sustainable performance" over the long term. Under Thorburn NAB is investing $1.5 billion in products, services and customer experience. The strategy also involves getting rid of 6000 people and hiring 2000 with different skills. TONYBOYD

109 Australian Financial Review, Australia Author: Misa Han Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 44,635 Page: 8 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 8,758 Words: 646 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 Insurers admit litany of wrongdoing MisaHan The country's largest insurers have admitted a list of misconduct and conduct falling below community standards, with the exception of global giant QBE Insurance Group. At the opening submission of round six of the banking royal commission on Monday, the country's biggest insurers pre-empted the commission's attack by admitting list after list of misconduct ranging from delays in claims handling to misleading advertising, to systemic administrative errors. An outlier was QBE, which "did not make any acknowledgments" of misconduct or conduct that fell below community standards. "However, it identified a number of issues in relation to insurance," counsel assisting the commission, Rowena Orr, QC, said. These issues included the fact car dealerships sold QBE's gap protection and consumer credit insurance products where there was in fact no gap between the insured value of the car and the loan balance, where the customer had paid a large deposit for the car, where the cover might have duplicated existing cover, or the cover might have provided more insurance than was necessary. QBE estimated this issue affected more than 28,000 customers and expected $15.9 million to be paid in remediation. QBE is not one of the companies called to give evidence in this round of hearings. ALA, the country's largest group life insurer by market share, admitted it failed to provide notices to up to 1000 customers, which meant they may have been unaware their life insurance had been cancelled for the nonpayment of premiums. It also acknowledged double-charged premium payments to the tune of $775,000 and received 300 complaints about its consumer credit insurance. Allianz identified 49 instances of misconduct including overcharging customers and delays in processing travel insurance claims. AMP life, one of the country's largest life insurers, admitted it engaged in "possible" misconduct when rewriting insurance to maximise commissions and it caused delays in assessing insurance claims. Commonwealth Bank identified 60 misconduct issues with insurance due to its outdated definitions and sale of consumer credit insurance to customers that turned out to be junk because they did not meet the eligibility criteria. LAG identified 112 instances of misconduct and 40 of conduct falling below community standards. It admitted its premiums on home building policies in 2013 were "unreasonably high" and there were systemic issues with its sales and claims handling. MetLife, the third-largest provider of group insurance, pointed to seven court findings against it and added its surveillance tactics may have fallen below community standards. MLC said it undertook a claims handling review, in which an independent expert found 26 cases where the correct exclusions were applied. Another 55 files were found to be not efficient, honest or fair. MLC also admitted it had 245 legal cases brought against it in the past 10 years. ANZ"s OnePath admitted 17 instances of misconduct during the past five years, including delays in processing and administrative errors affecting tens of thousands of members. REST identified one instance of potential misconduct, being the failure to automatically reinstate the fund's basic insurance cover when members turned 25. Suncorp, which owns AAMI and GIO, acknowledged there were systemic issues in relation to claims handling and outdated medical conditions in its life insurance policies. TAL acknowledged it received two infringement notices for misleading TV and online ads. It also acknowledged it made misleading and unsolicited sales calls in breach of the Corporations Act Westpac highlighted 250 incidents of misconduct in insurance in the past five years. Among them include admission it withheld additional benefits to home and contents insurance customers. Zurich admitted errors in communications with customers and that it engaged in misconduct for claims handling and application of the terms of its policies. Leadership p42 Editorial&Opinion p46 The country's biggest insurers pre-empted the commission's attack by admitting list after list of misconduct.

110 Australian Financial Review, Australia Author: Misa Han Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : National : 44,635 Page: 8 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 8,758 Words: 646 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 Counsel assisting Rowena Orr, QC, says QBE identified "a number of issues" in relation to insurance. PHOTO: EDDIE JIM

111 Australian Financial Review, Australia Author: Sarah Turner And James Eyers Section: Companies and Markets Article type : News Item Classification : National : 44,635 Page: 1 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 12,844 Words: 1202 Item ID: Page 1 of 3 Thorburn retreats on front book discounts NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn said his call not to fodow the other major banks in raising mortgage rates was designed to restore trust with existing customers rather than grow the bank's share of the housing loan market He said existing borrowers had not been receiving the benefits of aggressive discounts for new customers, known as the "front book", which the Productivity Commission last month citid as an example of a lack of banking competition. "If s probably not a long-term economic model to have aggressive front book discounting when your existing clients are not getting the same sort of deal," Mr Thorburn told The Australian Financial Review. Companies pl5, Chanticleer page NAB holds rates steady in bid to 'build trust' Sarah Turner and James Eyers National Australia Bank chief executive Andrew Thorburn has moved to counter criticism from the Productivity Commission that existing customers of the big banks are missing out on discounts enjoyed by new home loan borrowers by breaking ranks with his rivals and keeping mortgage rates steady. The decision to keep NAB's standard variable rate steady at 5.24 per cent came as Mr Thorburn questioned the longer-term strategy of charging loyal customers higher rates, as analysts welcomed the move even though the bank may suffer a short-term hit to its margins due to higher funding costs. The decision shows the pressure of the banking royal commission has forced NAB to put the interests of its existing customers ahead of shareholders, at least in the short term, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison describing the decision as a "good call". Mr Thorburn said the call to hold rates was designed to restore trust with existing customers, who have not been receiving the benefits of aggressive discounts for new customers (known as the front book"), an issue raised recently by the Productivity Commission in its report into banking competition. "If s probably not a long-term economic model to have aggressive 'front book' discounting when your existing clients are not getting the same sort of deal," Mr Thorburn told The Australian Financial Review. "It does start to create a new conversation about whether the existing practices really make a lot of sense in the long run. I think if s another way of thinking about the whole sales driven, aggressive front book discounting for customers in the market, as opposed to really thinking about the clients you have." NAB's standard variable rate for home loans will be at least 12 basis points lower than next competitors. Westpac's headline SVR is 5.38 per cent Commonwealth Bank's is at 5.37 per cent and ANTs is at 5.36 per cent NAB has suffered through the recent royal commission hearings harder than its competitors, and last week was sued by the corporate regulator for charging customers for services not provided. NAB "is not immune to market and funding conditions and there has been some pressure there," he said. However, "this decision is squarely focused on our customers, and thanking them for their business," Mr Thorburn said. "Good call not to lift mortgage rates. They seem to get it" Mr Morrison wrote on Twitter. Investors were mostly upbeat about the decision even though it will put pressure on NAB's net interest margin (NIM), a key driver of revenue, because it was likely to help it retain and attract more customers. "I thought it was interesting to see r one of the majors break lockstep," said Continued p18

112 Australian Financial Review, Australia Author: Sarah Turner And James Eyers Section: Companies and Markets Article type : News Item Classification : National : 44,635 Page: 1 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 12,844 Words: 1202 Item ID: Page 2 of 3 From page 15 NAB holding rates in bid to'build trust 5 Aberdeen Standard Investments investment manager Jason Kururangi. "It feels like they are listening to the concerns of regulators and consumers. "At a high level, I thought it was prudent and sensible. In the short term, there could be a negative impact on profit but in the long term, ifs positive, as they are reacting to the consumer." Other investors also highlighted the rarity of a major bank acting independently from the rest of the oligopoly, something NAB has done before during its famous "breaking up" campaign, which saw it cut fees. 'Ifs a bit of a surprise given that the other three have raised rates and it would be easy for NAB to increase rates at this point" said Regal Funds Management portfolio manager Omkar Joshi. ' While ifs likely that it would be more profitable for the bank to increase rates, they might be playing the long term game by doing the right thing by the customer. I don't think that NAB will lift interest rates in the near term. They would stick out from the other banks for the wrong reasons if they did so." However, some investors were more Breaking from the pack sceptical, suggesting NAB's rates will eventually rise in the face of higher funding costs to protect margins. NAB said during a third quarter update last month that its NIM had "declined slightly" over the quarter, due to "elevated short term wholesale funding costs and ongoing intense home loan competition". These elevated funding costs were the reason that Westpac recently raised its SVR by 14 basis points, ANZ lifted its by 16 basis points and Commonwealth Bank upped its rate by 15 basis points, moves will help them maintain their NIM and support profits. "Our base case was that [NAB] would follow suit," said Romano Sala Tenna, a portfolio manager from Katana Asset Management He added that NAB is probably trying to pick up a bit of volume, after making a decision that it needed to increase its share of the mortgage market but suggested it will have to lift its rates eventually, as "they have the same funding pressures as everyone else." NAB left the door open to this possibility, saying on Monday it "will continue to regularly review its rates and assess whether current market conditions, including funding costs, continue". In a letter to NAB customers, Mr Thorburn wrote: "Ifs true that funding costs remain elevated for banks - including for NAB. Along with the other banks, we are facing increased financial pressure. The bank bill swap rate (BBSW), the key wholesale funding rate for mortgages, increased by about 25 basis points between February and March this year and has remained elevated. But Mr Thorburn said its decision to hold its rate for now was important to rebuild customer trust and was a reward for the loyalty of existing customers. "We are listening and acting differently," Mr Thorburn said. "We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer. By focusing more on our customers, we build trust and advocacy, and this creates a more sustainable business." "The longer we can hold this rate, the greater the benefit for them and in the end, our bank is based on our customers and how they feel about us, and the trust they have in us!" Mr Morrison said after the Westpac rate move that if customers aren't happy with their interest rate, they can always "go to another bank, because competition is the key to a more competitive and stronger and more accountable banking system". WITH TONY BOYD Standard variable rates, big four banks (%) wwe need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer Andrew Thorburn NAB CEO : Increase(bps) Westpac 14 CBA 15 ANZ 16 NAB 0 NAB share price, daily ($) Principal & interest Interest only ': : : VK f^^is-oo :! N D J 1 8 F M A M / J A S SOURCE: BLOOMBERG, ANZ. WESTPAC, NAB, CBA

113 Australian Financial Review, Australia Author: Sarah Turner And James Eyers Section: Companies and Markets Article type : News Item Classification : National : 44,635 Page: 1 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 12,844 Words: 1202 Item ID: Page 3 of 3 NAB's standard variable rate remains steady at 5.24 per cent.

114 Australian Financial Review, Australia Author: James Thomson Section: Companies and Markets Article type : News Item Classification : National : 44,635 Page: 32 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 5,077 Words: 682 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 James Thomson Insurers' confessions unsettling It didn't require a team of actuaries for the insurance sector to know that its round of banking royal commission hearings was going to be brutal. So the sight of senior counsel assisting Rowena Orr, QC, taking her feet on Monday morning must have sent an extra chill down the spine of the executives due to give evidence. But Orr didn't even need to work too hard to deliver the first blow to the insurers, as she kicked the hearings off. After rattling through the regulatory framework for the sector, Orr began churning through a worryingly long list of incidents of misconduct that the insurers had fessed up to. Orr"s list of incidents of misconduct or conduct likely to fall below community standards, read like "lowlights" reel for the sector. There was Allianz admitting that one of its subsidiaries had failed to respond to 6000 claims within 10 days, as required by industry regulation. There was AMP, admitting some of its authorised representatives churned clients from one life insurance policy to another, so they could collect commissions. Clearview admitted to a number of instances of mis-selling of insurance by its sales agents, and said that it could not be sure that more than 278,000 calls to customers didn't breach the anti-hawking obligations under the Corporations Act Commonwealth Bank admitted it had been caught out with out-dated medical definitions for conditions, such as heart attack and rheumatoid arthritis, under its trauma policies. Industry giant IAG identified 112 examples of misconduct including some "systemic issues relating to its sale process and handling of claims". It was still finding problems in one of its subsidiaries, called Swann Insurance, as recently as September 7, when it told the commission it had identified further problems in the way add-on insurance for cars was sold. Metlife reported to the commission that its conduct may have fallen below community standards around its claims handling processes for mental health conditions, including, incredibly, that it put some claimants under surveillance. MLC, the insurance business in which NAB sold an 80 per cent stake to Japanese giant Nippon Like in 2016, admitted that it there had been 245 legal proceedings brought against it across Australia, half of which related to claims for total permanent disability, hi addition, there had been 1890 complaints brought against it with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and 460 in the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal. There were chuckles in the public gallery when the spotlight turned to QBE insurance, which grandly described itself to Commissioner Ken Hayne as one of the world's top 20 general insurance and re-insurance companies. In a move it is surely likely to regret if history is any guide, QBE admitted no incidents of misconduct or even conduct likely to fall below community standards. "However, it identified a number of issues in relation to insurance," Orr told the commission, putting such emphasis on the word "issues" that the note of sarcasm was almost visible in the courtroom. hi addition to an "issue" with the potential mis-selling of gap insurance for car buyers, which affected around 28,500 claims, it also admitted that FOS had identified several systemic concerns with QBE's practices, including a failure to implement FOS determinations in a timely manner. Indeed, getting on with the task of dealing with customer complaints appears to have been a bit of an issue at QBE. It reported that in March 2017 it had 1520 open complaints, of which 681 had responses overdue. This issue was apparently sorted by June of thatyear. One of the gems from Orr's

115 Australian Financial Review, Australia Author: James Thomson Section: Companies and Markets Article type : News Item Classification : National : 44,635 Page: 32 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 5,077 Words: 682 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 description of the regulatory framework of the insurance sectorwas the fact that insurance contracts contain something called a "duty of utmost good faith", which describes how parties need to act The brutal penalty for an insurer that fails in this duty is... well, there isn't one. The Australian Securities and Investment Commission can't take action against insurers who have breached their duty, because there is no point If you don't think well be reminded of this point throughout the next two weeks, you don't know Rowena Orr.

116 Illawarra Mercury, Wollongong NSW Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 10,806 Page: 17 Printed Size: cm² Market: NSW Country: Australia ASR: AUD 3,532 Words: 347 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 NAB opts against a rise in mortgage rate NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn on Monday said National Australia Bank will continue to monitor funding conditions, but will continue to hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ have over the past two weeks said they would raise their standard variable rates for owner-occupiers to 5.38, 5.37 and 5.36 per cent. Mr Thorburn indicated that NAB s decision was a direct result of an environment in which huge profits and revelations of misconduct aired at the royal commission had damaged the big banks public standing. We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer, Mr Thorburn said. By focusing more on our customers, we build trust and advocacy, and this creates a more sustainable business. The out-of-cycle hikes by NAB s rivals drew criticism from customers and politicians, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison weighing in to encourage unhappy borrowers to switch providers. The prime minister on Monday tweeted his approval of NAB s decision. Good call not to lift mortgage rates. They seem to get it. NAB s share price, however, seemed to suggest investors were thinking about a lost opportunity to boost margins. NAB shares were downt in afternoon trade, compared to a slight gain for CBA and declines of about 0.49 and 0.4 per cent for ANZ and Westpac. The other lenders outof-cycle moves led to economists last week suggesting the Reserve Bank of Australia would keep the cash rate on hold at a record low of 1.5 per cent for even longer than thought. The RBA, which has not moved on rates since August 2016, would be wary of increasing the load on borrowers, decreasing the amount they can spend elsewhere in the economy.

117 Illawarra Mercury, Wollongong NSW Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 10,806 Page: 17 Printed Size: cm² Market: NSW Country: Australia ASR: AUD 3,532 Words: 347 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 STAYING PUT: NAB chief AndrewThorburn says the bank will keep a hold on its home loan rate, for now. Picture: AAP

118 Cairns Post, Cairns Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 13,896 Page: 24 Printed Size: cm² Market: QLD Country: Australia ASR: AUD 1,214 Words: 396 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 NAB goes alone on rates Bank ignores rivals moves and holds steady NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn (right) yesterday said National Australia Bank would continue to monitor funding conditions but would hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ have over the past two weeks said they would raise their standard variable rates for owner-occupiers to 5.38 per cent, 5.37 per cent and 5.36 per cent, respectively. Mr Thorburn indicated that NAB s decision was a result of an environment in which huge profits and revelations of misconduct aired at the royal commission had damaged the big banks public standing. We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer, Mr Thorburn said. By focusing more on our customers, we build trust and advocacy, and this creates a more sustainable business. The out-of-cycle hikes by to get it. NAB s share price, however, seemed to suggest investors were thinking about a lost opportunity to boost margins. NAB shares were down about 0.6 per cent in afternoon trade, compared to a slight gain for CBA and declines of about 0.2 per cent and 0.35 per cent for ANZ and Westpac. The other lenders out-ofcycle moves led to economists last week suggesting the Reserve Bank of Australia would keep the cash rate on hold at a record low of 1.5 per cent for even longer than previously thought. The RBA, which has not moved on rates since August 2016, would be wary of increasing the load on borrowers and decreasing the amount they can spend elsewhere and could even cut the cash rate if the banks hike further, AMP economist Shane Oliver said. Westpac was the first to raise interest rates on variable interest home loans, hitting customers with higher rates despite making huge profits. ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank both announced their rate rises on Thursday within hours of each other. NAB s rivals drew criticism from customers and politicians, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison weighing in to encourage unhappy borrowers to switch providers. The Prime Minister yesterday tweeted his approval of NAB s decision. Good call not to lift mortgage rates. They seem

119 The Australian, Australia Author: Michael Roddan Elizabeth Redman Section: Edition Changes - All-round First Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 2 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 4,991 Words: 473 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Sack them all, says insurance boss MICHAEL RODDAN ELIZABETH REDMAN FINANCIAL SERVICES ROYAL COMMISSION ClearView chief risk officer Greg Martin called for his employees to be sacked after lashing the ASXlisted life insurer s full-on sales culture without much regard for customers and admitting it had breached criminal anti-hawking laws more than 300,000 times. The royal commission heard that ClearView, which continues to be in the sights of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission over systemic failures in complying with laws designed to prevent spruikers forcing unwanted policies on customers, ran an outbound call centre where as much as 40 per cent of calls were non-compliant and targeted poor Australians with unnecessary policies. Senior counsel assisting the commission, Rowena Orr QC, kicked off the inquiry s probe into the life insurance sector yesterday by detailing a stream of admissions of misconduct from the largest companies in the industry, pinning a key driver of unethical behaviour on the $6 billion worth of commissions paid to financial Martin advisers over the five years to last year. Mr Martin, also chief actuary at the Sydney-based ClearView, was the first executive to be questioned at the royal commission s fortnight of hearings. He told the inquiry his company had breached anti-hawking laws in the Corporations Act up to 300,000 times for unsolicited and pestering sales of life insurance policies over a three-year period. This reflects a culture within ClearView Direct that was a fullon sales culture without much regard for customers, he said. It s just yes sack them. The commission heard that after it took over the life insurance business from health insurer Bupa, ClearView used remuneration incentives of bonuses of up to $8000 a fortnight to drive sales staff to sell as many policies as possible, including through a plan to target poorer Australians. The strategy fired, with large swaths of customers cancelling the Your Insure-branded policies sold to them or letting the insurance lapse. It was poorer people that were being targeted by Your Insure? Ms Orr asked. Mr Martin responded: I emphasise it was poorer, not poorest. You can t build a business on that. It was not meant to go down to the lowest or particularly low (socio-economic customers, but) we were concerned that that may be where it was finding itself. Internal documents showed ClearView s plan to pivot from selling limited value policies to low socio-economic segments to top end products for more affluent customers. Mr Martin estimated the company s breaches of the law at 10,000 or 12,000 times, but letters and documents shown to the commission revealed ClearView found more than 300,000 instances where it couldn t tell whether it was complying with the law. Opposition financial services spokeswoman Clare O Neil said following the revelations: Some people targeted by this conduct included vulnerable, low-income Australians. It is an enormous, appalling breach and yet another example of sickening misconduct in the financial services sector.

120 Warrnambool Standard, Warrnambool VIC Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 8,274 Page: 13 Printed Size: cm² Market: VIC Country: Australia ASR: AUD 1,191 Words: 347 Item ID: Page 1 of 2 NAB opts against a rise in mortgage rate NAB is keeping variable mortgage rates on hold in an effort to curry favour with customers, resisting the temptation to follow its rivals in passing on increased funding costs. Chief executive Andrew Thorburn on Monday said National Australia Bank will continue to monitor funding conditions, but will continue to hold its standard variable rate at 5.24 per cent. Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ have over the past two weeks said they would raise their standard variable rates for owner-occupiers to 5.38, 5.37 and 5.36 per cent. Mr Thorburn indicated that NAB s decision was a direct result of an environment in which huge profits and revelations of misconduct aired at the royal commission had damaged the big banks public standing. We need to rebuild the trust of our customers, and by holding our NAB standard variable rate longer, we help our customers for longer, Mr Thorburn said. By focusing more on our customers, we build trust and advocacy, and this creates a more sustainable business. The out-of-cycle hikes by NAB s rivals drew criticism from customers and politicians, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison weighing in to encourage unhappy borrowers to switch providers. The prime minister on Monday tweeted his approval of NAB s decision. Good call not to lift mortgage rates. They seem to get it. NAB s share price, however, seemed to suggest investors were thinking about a lost opportunity to boost margins. NAB shares were downt in afternoon trade, compared to a slight gain for CBA and declines of about 0.49 and 0.4 per cent for ANZ and Westpac. The other lenders outof-cycle moves led to economists last week suggesting the Reserve Bank of Australia would keep the cash rate on hold at a record low of 1.5 per cent for even longer than thought. The RBA, which has not moved on rates since August 2016, would be wary of increasing the load on borrowers, decreasing the amount they can spend elsewhere in the economy.

121 Warrnambool Standard, Warrnambool VIC Section: General News Article type : News Item Classification : Regional : 8,274 Page: 13 Printed Size: cm² Market: VIC Country: Australia ASR: AUD 1,191 Words: 347 Item ID: Page 2 of 2 STAYING PUT: NAB chief AndrewThorburn says the bank will keep a hold on its home loan rate, for now. Picture: AAP

122 The Australian, Australia Author: Cliona O'Dowd Section: Edition Changes - All-round First Article type : News Item Classification : National : 94,448 Page: 2 Printed Size: cm² Market: National Country: Australia ASR: AUD 3,576 Words: 339 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 ASIC s banks penalties fall short: committee CLIONA O DOWD A parliamentary committee has blasted the corporate regulator for letting the big banks off scotfree and neglecting to crack down on systemic failings in the financial system. In its review of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission s 2017 annual report, the House of Representatives standing committee on economics cited shocking examples of misconduct exposed by the banking royal commission and criticised the regulator for not being tough enough and relying too much on enforceable undertakings. Evidence provided to the royal commission has exposed parts of the financial sector as having a corporate culture motivated by greed and lacking in moral leadership, the committee concluded. However, evidence of systemic failings also places the Australian Securities & Investments Commission in the spotlight because it is the regulator responsible for promoting investor and financial consumer trust and confidence, and ensuring fair, orderly and transparent markets. The royal commission has uncovered a litany of scandals, including banks charging clients in some cases dead clients fees for no service, failing to report breaches to the regulator and trying to deceive the regulator. ASIC needs to be tougher, the committee said in its review. Australians expect the big banks and others to fear their regulator. There have been too many examples where ASIC has not adequately penalised those it regulates. The heavy reliance on enforceable undertakings, for example, rather than seeking courtimposed penalties, has not met community expectations. ASIC has defended its actions against the banks at the royal commission hearings. The government announced last month it would expand ASIC s powers by providing it with an additional $70 million to embed the regulator s staff in financial institutions in a bid to keep them in check. The committee, of which Victorian MP Julia Banks was a member, said it would continue to scrutinise ASIC s performance in relation to the new banking and financial services regulations and initiatives flagged by the government and that it supported the regulator s call to restore trust, eliminate conflicts of interest and raise standards of professionalism in Australia s financial services industry.

123 West Australian, Perth Author: Nick Evans Section: Edition Changes Article type : News Item Classification : Capital City Daily : 147,676 Page: 4 Printed Size: cm² Market: WA Country: Australia ASR: AUD 4,190 Words: 364 Item ID: Page 1 of 1 Insurer admits 300,000 faults Nick Evans The first life insurance company hauled before the financial services royal commission has admitted to more than 300,000 criminal breaches of the law by unleashing an aggressive and deceptive sales force on low-income Australians. The admission came amid revelations that Australia s 10 biggest life insurance companies paid more than $6 billion in commissions to financial advisers over five years. Hearings later in the twoweek sessions are likely to be told about poor behaviour arising from the financial incentives on offer. Yesterday, the commission s gaze turned to Clearview Wealth a stockmarket-listed company born from NRMA s life insurance business and then owned by insurance giant BUPA and allegations the company had used highpressure sales techniques to hustle low-income earners into signing up to costly and near-useless products. Clearview Wealth chief risk officer Greg Martin admitted the company had breached criminal provisions in the Corporations Act, which ban financial services providers from cold-calling new clients to push insurance and other financial products, as many as 303,000 times over three years. Companies can contact potential customers only if they have had a chance to read contract documents before talking to a sales agent. The total possible fine for criminal misconduct, if prosecuted, could top $4 billion, given the maximum financial penalty for each breach is $13,750. Mr Martin admitted many of the calls had been misleading or outright deceptive after being played recordings of Clearview sales agents coldcalling customers found in databases bought from thirdparty providers and, for 250,000 of the calls, provided by BUPA from its other insurance clients. One call showed a client being deceived into thinking they had signed up to receive information as to whether they were eligible for life insurance cover when they had, in fact, signed up for a policy. A second showed a sales representative convincing an elderly cleaner, who had been knocked for life insurance because of a heart condition, to instead sign up for near-useless accidental death coverage. Clearview ditched its business selling life insurance direct to customers last year after the corporate watchdog raised concerns about its highpressure selling techniques. The royal commission will hold hearings into insurers for the next two weeks.