Banking Day

At yesterday's annual general meeting for Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, shareholders were told how the bank's A$80 million advance accreditation process was paying off, as was its business strategy of sourcing most of its funding from retail customers.Managing director Mike Hirst also used the occasion to re-iterate his view that there was no need to pursue a banking Royal Commission, although he acknowledged there was "community angst" generated by poor behaviour in the industry.Hirst asserted the recent parliamentary questioning of the top executives of the four major banks showed there were no systemic issues across the industry. "It's is very hard to see what substantive, tangible matters a Royal Commission would actually investigate. In my view, it would be a significant waste of taxpayer and shareholder money.""The most effective solution is the one in place," Hirst said. That system is, he explained, an arrangement where banks and regulators will work closely to deal with the concerns that have been raised, while independently appointed parties will make sure banks are delivering.  Hirst also weighed into the debate over banks' interest rates versus the Reserve Bank of Australia's official cash rate. With about 82 per cent of BEN's funding provided by retail customers, the need to attract and hold onto deposits makes this a delicate balancing exercise, he argued."It is a complex issue but even a simplistic understanding of why banks price as they do will go some way to easing the angst," he said.Hirst added that BEN's capital, funding and credit positions were benefiting from the $80 million it had spent on the move to advanced accreditation for Basel II purposes: "[it] has increased our risk management capability, and has become an important strategic asset for our bank."This capability, in conjunction with APRA's changes to risk weights on mortgages, are whittling away the capital advantage major banks have enjoyed, Hirst said.BEN's chairman, Robert Johanson, also promoted the "significant investment" that has been made in the advanced accreditation program, and he emphasised how the program had already improved the way the bank, which is Australia's fifth largest retail bank, manages risk."The biggest project over the past three years has been the investment in reengineering the way we manage risk in the bank in the advanced accreditation project. This has included new IT systems and models, and a lot of training," Johanson said."We have always been a conservative organisation â€¦ [but] this new approach has altered the way risk is discussed in the bank and we are a stronger business for it."The meeting elected Jan Harris and re-elected Rob Hubbard, Jim Hazel, David

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Bendigo pushes for status quo over banking Royal Commission

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