Briefs: ABA to front banking system review, Dastyari calls for limits on fees
The Australian Bankers Association will give evidence at the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics public hearings in early March for the review of the performance of Australia's banking and financial system. The ABA's executive director, Stephen Munchenberg, will appear on the final of three days of hearings, Wednesday 8 March, preceded by Westpac's CEO Brian Hartzer. Senator Sam Dastyari has revisited his calls, made back in December 2015, to allow credit card numbers to be switched between banks, and to limit the level of fees banks can levy for use of ATMs. "Customers getting money from a bank is a service and the banks should have the right to recover their costs but it's more than that - it's an incredibly profitable part of banking," he told ABC Radio, adding that he plans to introduce a private member's Bill this year. "The other fees that frustrate me are for credit cards - look at when the cash rate is lowered, interest rates on cards stay the same." The much anticipated Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Bill 2016 was passed in Federal Parliament earlier this week. The new law, passed on 13 February, makes notification to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner mandatory when a data breach occurs. The law applies to all organisations that are already subject to the Privacy Act and all businesses and not-for-profit organisations with an annual turnover of more than A$3 million.