Aussie runs a rogue broker defence on Royal Commission
Aussie Home Loans has used its opportunity to respond to the closing submissions of the senior counsel assisting at the Royal Commission to come back with a long list of points aimed at refuting all the recommended actions.This is despite Aussie's response opening by saying it "concedes the incidents of misconduct" described during the first round of hearings at the Hayne Royal Commission into banking misconduct.Aussie also accepted the description of the fraudulent conduct by the four credit representatives - the four brokers - who were the subject of a case study as being responsible for conduct that was "misleading, deceptive and unconscionable".That was as far as the company would go, arguing instead that it's not open for the commission to find AHL breached several of its statutory obligations under the NCCP Act, nor was there evidence to support the assertion that the company engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct.Rogue brokers did not constitute a breakdown in its systems, Aussie asserted in its submission. It argued that none of the company's systems and processes permitted - that is, authorised - such fraudulent conduct to occur, a position Aussie said was reinforced by comments made to staff via several of its in-house publications.In addition, AHL said, it has "established systems and processing for communicating with regulators in relation to misconduct"; equally, the company asserted, it has systems and processes for requiring disclosure of potential conflicts of interest.AHL also pre-empted attempts to reshape the current remuneration structure towards just a single upfront commission or indeed a flat fee-for-service with no tail. Aussie said such thinking failed to appreciate that upfront commission with no tail provides an incentive to recommend early-term switching. Upfront commissions with tail provide an incentive to brokers to recommend loans that would suit the customer for the long-term, Aussie argued.