Weeks after the Australian Banking Association commissioned a review of the Banking Code of Practice, the Banking Code Compliance Committee has announced a review of its activities.

The BCCC, which is obliged to arrange periodic reviews, has appointed Phil Khoury of Cameron Ralph Khoury to conduct the review.

Among other things, Khoury has been asked to consider what other powers and sanctions may be appropriate to the BCCC and what the committee should do to improve the effectiveness of its monitoring.

He will look at whether the BCCC is properly interpreting its role and whether it has been prevented from fulfilling its purpose.

Early last month, the ABA announced that it had commissioned Mike Callaghan, the chair of the Commonwealth Grants Commission, to review the Banking Code of Practice.

Callaghan has been asked to make recommendations on how the banking industry can strengthen the operation of the code.

He will consider whether any code provisions should be designated under enforceable code provisions regime introduced following a recommendation of the Hayne royal commission.

Khoury has been asked to engage with Callaghan to ensure the reviews are co-ordinated.

Both reviews will look at the impact on their operations of new legal obligation arising from the Hayne royal commission.

The BCCC has been forthright in recent reports, criticising banks in a March review for using “human error” as a default cause of their compliance breaches without establishing or acting on the root causes of the problems.

And in April it criticised banks for not doing enough to prevent breaches of the code, saying: “There will come a time when the BCCC and the broader community will expect banks to have gained sufficient insight from this breach data to prevent compliance incidents from happening in the first place.”

Both reviewers are taking submissions.