AUSTRALIA: Australia’s financial services sector is suffering from a culture of secrecy, according to a new report.
The Commonwealth Bank and the Australian Financial Review found that some financial institutions are deliberately burying their information, limiting access to data and limiting public access to information about them.
It also found that Australia’s largest banks are not complying with the data protection rules set out in the Commonwealth Act.
The report, Australia’s Financial Privacy and Security Act 2016, was commissioned by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and released today.
“There’s a culture that’s created where there’s a real fear and a real anxiety around what you can tell the public,” ASIC acting chief executive Andrew Scott said.
ASIC and the regulator’s watchdog, the Australian Privacy Commissioner, will jointly present the report to the parliament this week.
There’s no single entity in Australia that is responsible for making sure that we have an appropriate and appropriate law, ASIC said in a statement.
As a result, ASIC is providing advice to financial institutions, as well as other stakeholders, about the law around financial disclosure.
Scott said ASIC will work with the regulator to ensure that financial institutions comply with the legislation and are able to protect the confidentiality of their customers’ information.
But it’s important that we’re looking at how we can ensure that the law is being applied, not only in relation to information disclosure but also in relation the way that financial institution is managing that information, Scott said in the statement.
ASIC is also providing information on its website about how to protect yourself from identity theft and fraud.
While ASIC has issued guidelines for financial institutions to help them deal with identity theft, Scott acknowledged that it was not yet mandatory for institutions to implement them.
This includes whether or not institutions will use a credit reporting agency, he said.
The Financial Review is a financial news site that covers Australian business and business-related topics.
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Topics:business-economics-and-finance,industry,consumer-protection,credit-reporting,government-and_politics,government—state-issues,law-crime-and,consumer,financial-services,australia
