APRA flags concern with CBA board responses

APRA announced a prudential inquiry into the Commonwealth Bank’s governance, culture and accountability frameworks in August 2017, following “a number of issues” relating to the bank’s public standing.

One of the issues identified in the regulator’s first progress update was the responsiveness of the board and senior executives to “emerging risk issues and diligence in overseeing the resolution of these issues”.

The influence that the board and senior executives had on the culture of the bank was also identified as an issue for further focus, the update said.

Other issues flagged by the review panel include “the complexity of policies and decision-making processes, the prioritisation and execution of investment in risk systems, capabilities and accountabilities for risk management in the organisation, the stature, maturity and resourcing of the compliance function, and the responsiveness of remuneration to risk outcomes, adverse or positive”.

So far, the panel has completed approximately 60 of the 80 planned interviews with current and former staff, and is presently reviewing 10,000 internal documents including staff communications, project documentation, board and committee papers, policies and procedures, and human resources data.

“The panel wishes to acknowledge CBA’s co-operation with the work of the inquiry. The panel also notes that CBA is undertaking a number of significant remediation initiatives in the risk management and compliance areas, which the final report will take into account,” the update said.