ANZ's witnesses give insights into bank's operation
A string of ANZ staff were cross-examined by Michael Lee, for the plaintiffs, on the bank's policies relating to exception fees in the final hour of yesterday morning's session.The most compelling aspects of their evidence for bank-watchers were the insights provided into the internal operations of the bank.James Rinaldi, the manager of ANZ's financial hardship team, based in South Melbourne, revealed that the bank had been keeping records on the duration of all calls received from customers since 1999.Rinaldi also furnished details on how ANZ had structured its global call centre operations.All phone enquiries from business customers experiencing financial hardship are handled by service staff in Melbourne, while most calls from troubled personal customers are answered in Bangalore."[However] there are certain consumer accounts where if the overdrawn amount is higher than a certain amount that still gets referred to Melbourne," Rinaldi told the court.The ANZ manager also stated that the bank's new call centre in the Philippines was not handling in-bound calls.Credit risk manager David Irving told the court there were many cases where "the exception fee would be waived automatically" if the bank was asked to do so by customers.The rapid procession of ANZ witnesses completed a hectic morning session.Justice Gordon invited one ANZ staffer, Peter Ellis, from the South Melbourne call centre, to nod off."Mr Ellis, have a sleep - have a seat - we would all like to have a sleep - and pour yourself a fresh glass of water if you would like one."