Australian Banks Slammed for Greed in Industry's ‘Day of Shame’
- Regulators criticized for soft touch, small penalties: inquiry
- Bank shares rally as report stops short of recommendations
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Australia’s long-running inquiry into its financial industry lambasted a runaway culture of greed and poor behavior but stopped short of recommending any penalties, sending bank shares rallying.
The wrongdoing was too often driven by greed or “the pursuit of short-term profit at the expense of basic standards of honesty,” the inquiry led by Commissioner Kenneth Hayne said in its interim report released in Canberra Friday. “The banks have gone to the edge of what is permitted, and too often beyond that limit, in pursuit of profit.”