Mike Lawrence

The Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA) and its members are pleased to welcome the Government’s decision to introduce a Financial Sector Regulatory Initiatives Grid following extensive advocacy by COBA.

In yesterday’s announcement, Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones formally thanked COBA for its work in helping shape the reform. The Regulatory Grid will bring major financial services regulators together to schedule regulatory change, creating benefits across the whole financial services sector including greater transparency and the ability to better plan and allocate resources.

COBA CEO Mike Lawrence said: “We are delighted to see the Government press ahead with an Australian Financial Sector Initiatives Regulatory Grid. This will allow customer-owned banks to better forecast staffing and resource requirements, plan for regulatory change, and better compete with larger banks. We all know that a competitive banking market benefits all Australians and creates a more dynamic finance industry.”

As part of a submission on behalf of COBA’s 55 members to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics inquiry into promoting economic dynamism, competition and business formation, COBA highlighted the challenges customer-owned banks must navigate in the face of increasing regulatory requirements, with smaller banking institutions finding it more difficult and expensive to navigate a fragmented and uncoordinated regulatory landscape.

“The relatively small size of some customer-owned banks compared to their shareholder-owned counterparts makes it harder to keep up with the tsunami of regulatory change we are seeing in the financial services sector.  This impacts their ability to compete and is key to why we have been advocating for this initiative for a number of years. We look forward to working with the Government on the design to make sure that the Regulatory Grid delivers productivity, transparency, and accountability benefits,” Mr Lawrence said.

“Significant regulatory change will continue as the risk environment becomes more complex and dynamic. The introduction of a Regulatory Grid means better coordination and mapping of regulation, which will help banks and credit unions manage this burden and maintain critical investments in customer-focused initiatives,” he added.

COBA looks forward to further discussions and collaboration with the Government and regulators to ensure the customer-owned banking sector can thrive, providing increased competition and strong, innovative banking solutions for consumers in Australia.

Mike Lawrence said: “The customer-owned sector is essential to keeping Australian banking competitive, and ensuring customers have options when it comes to first-class service and products. COBA will continue to advocate for more recognition of the customer-owned banking sector overall, and the diversity of banking business models.”

The post Customer-owned banks welcome introduction of Regulatory Grid appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Mike Lawrence

Roy Morgan’s Customer Owned Banking Association – Trust and Distrust Scores Report showed customer-owned banks collectively lead the table when it comes to consumer trust in banking, recording a higher Net Trust Score than any individual bank in Australia.

In the report, the banks that are members of the Customer Owned Banking Association (COBA) recorded far more trust than distrust, despite operating in an otherwise deeply distrusted sector. The collective Net Trust Score was higher than the Net Trust Score for Australia’s most trusted non-mutual bank.

According to the report, the entire banking industry ranks 22nd out of the 26 industries measured. In contrast, the customer-owned banking sector as a ‘sub-industry’ would rank seventh.

In total, 25 of COBA’s member brands were mentioned unprompted by respondents in the Roy Morgan Risk Monitor including Bank Australia, Bank First, Great Southern Bank, Heritage and People’s Choice, IMB, and Police Bank.

The findings have been welcomed by COBA as a reflection of the relationships COBA members form with their customers, which focuses on putting customers first through competitive rates, personalised service, and a strong community commitment.

“It’s not surprising that our people-first approach translates into high levels of trust,” said COBA CEO, Mike Lawrence. “This is a natural extension of our customer-centric philosophy. At every juncture, our members place their customers’ needs first and not only do our banks hold more consumer trust, they also have the most satisfied customers,” Mr Lawrence said.

“Customer-owned banks provide market-leading service, with Roy Morgan’s Customer Satisfaction in Banking report showing that main financial institution (MFI) customers of the mutual sector had the highest satisfaction ranking of any banking customer in Australia at 91.6%, 14.2% higher than the Big 4 banks, in the 6 months to June 2022.”

COBA CEO Mike Lawrence, appeared last week at the Inquiry into Bank Closures in Regional Australia before the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References.

“Many customer-owned banks go above and beyond to support regional communities. Where possible, customer-owned banks are innovating to keep branch services open, including partnering with communities to operate co-owned community branches or co-locating with government services. This kind of support is why Australians have high trust with customer-owned banks,” Mr Lawrence said.

In Australia, customer-owned banks now represent 70 per cent of Australia’s total domestic ADIs and collectively hold over $167 billion in assets, as of June 2023.

The post Customer-owned banks as a group are the most trusted banks in Australia appeared first on AdviserVoice.