Check against delivery

Thank you for the opportunity to appear today on behalf of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission. My name is Alan Kirkland and I have recently joined ASIC as a Commissioner. I’m joined in Sydney on Gadigal Lands by my colleague, Nathan Bourne, Senior Executive Leader, Credit, Banking and General Insurance. You will also see our colleague, a Wirlomen Noongar woman Danille Abbott, Senior Manager, Indigenous Outreach Program joining us from WA on Whadjuk Noongar country.

As Committee members would know, ASIC is Australia’s corporate, markets, financial services and consumer credit regulator.

ASIC has a range of aims articulated in our governing legislation, this includes to maintain, facilitate and improve the performance of the financial system and entities in it, and promote confident and informed participation in the financial system by investors and consumers.

ASIC’s formal submission lodged with the inquiry focused on the insights and activities of ASIC’s Indigenous Outreach Program. Our submission covers the relevance of key learnings outlined in ASIC’s Indigenous Financial Services Framework, and ASIC’s understanding of the impact of branch closures in regional and remote areas through the work of our Indigenous Outreach Program.

Our submission also outlines some opportunities for a range of stakeholders, including the banking sector, to provide more accessible and inclusive banking services in these areas. For example, adequate resourcing and service delivery through dedicated First Nations banking channels including First Nations call lines, regular regional pop-up banking services, and ensuring banking staff have appropriate levels of cultural competency training for engaging with their First Nations consumers.

The Committee would also be aware that ASIC can approve industry codes, upon application, under s1101A of the Corporations Act. On that basis ASIC is currently consulting on the draft updated Banking Code of Conduct – a document developed by the Australian Banking Association and enforced by the Banking Code Compliance Committee. The consultation will close on 15 January 2024.

The Banking Code of Practice includes a commitment that signatories to the Code comply with the ABA’s Branch Closure Support Protocol. We note the updated Branch Closure Support Protocol which came into force on 1 July 2023 governs the steps that banks must follow when closing a bank branch.