Laws bolstering standards in the financial services sector are unlikely to include $1 million fines against law-breaking bankers, with the Coalition offering Labor support to pass the long-delayed legislation through the Senate.
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones says his preference is to legislate the Financial Accountability Regime without finesSome lenders were concerned fines could make it more difficult to hire senior executives and may increase risk aversion with banks still finding their feet after the Hayne royal commission, as individual executives seek to avoid running foul of the tougher laws.
However, he said his clear preference was to reintroduce Labor’s original bill, which did not include fines for executives that breached the new accountability standards. Mr Jones has previously said Labor had never signed off on the deal with the Greens, and that the government’s position had always been to progress the bill without fines.
Should be no surprise that SenatorHume is looking after her banker mates again like she did when she threw financial planners under the bus.