Commonwealth Chief Responds To BusinessDay Expose

The chief executive of one of Australia’s leading banks has responded to accusations that several financial planners have been engaging in serious illegal activities more than five years ago.

Ian Narev, Commonwealth Bank’s head, has issued a response to the expose done by BusinessDay journalists who wrote that some of the bank’s employees were involved in the unauthorised investments of certain accounts, overcharging fees and forging of bank officials’ signatures.

Mr. Narev did say that there were seven financial planners involved, but the bank has reiterated its commitment to its customers and their financial health, over profit for the company.

Mr. Narev spoke before brokers in Sydney and said, “It’s not about profit, it’s not about product, it’s not about being the greatest company in the world.”

“What I told our team is that there were seven financial planners who let us down out of 50,000 people. It was five years ago and it’s still a headline in the paper.”

“If you don’t look after the financial well-being of customers, a) you’ve not just done the wrong thing by them, but b) it also harms the reputation of the institution.”

“We haven’t, and we’ll never be perfect. We say where we do wrong we try and put it right, but the number one thing our people have to focus on is the interests of the customer.”

The investigation done by BusinessDay showed that the bank has tried to downplay what has been done. These financial planners involved were estimated to control as much as 1300 clients and over $300 Million investments.

One of the planners, Don Nguyen, has been banned from working as a financial advicer.