THE Australian Banking Association, Bank of Queensland, Beyond Bank, HSBC Australia, ING Australia, Volt, Judo Bank, Teachers Mutual Bank Ltd and Unity Bank will appear before the House Economics Committee on July 1.

The public hearing is part of the committee’s ongoing Review of the Four Major Banks and other Financial Institutions and will be conducted via videoconference. The smaller bank sector last appeared before the committee in November 2019.

Chair, Tim Wilson MP, said, "Customer-owned and foreign banks operating in Australia are not exempt from scrutiny and should be held to account in the same way that the four major banks are. Smaller banks play an important role in Australia’s financial ecosystem, and they also have responsibilities to their customers to uphold.

"The committee’s scrutiny will include the banks’ progress in implementing the recommendations of the Hayne Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and the Financial Services industry. These hearings also give the committee an opportunity to question the banks on their approach to COVID-19."

The committee will also hear from newer banking players Volt and Judo Bank for the first time.

Mr Wilson said, "Neobanks have the potential to bring competition to the banking sector, however they have a long way to go and face many challenges, as we have seen with the acquisition of 86:400 and the closure of Xinja. We are looking forward to hearing from Volt and Judo Bank on their experience and role in the future of Australia’s banking sector."

Public hearing details

Date: Thursday, 1 July 2021
Time: 9.15am to 5pm
Location: Videoconference

The hearing will be broadcast live at aph.gov.au/live.

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AUSTRALIA POST has announced agreements with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and NAB to offer banking services in Post Offices nationally for the next decade.

The landmark 10-year in-principle agreements with the two major banks allows Australia Post to support ongoing investment in the Bank@Post service in order to provide safe, reliable banking services for all Australians, particularly those in regional areas and small businesses.

The agreements also support the long-term sustainability of thousands of Licensed Post Offices and their owners, many of whom are small businesses and families who play an essential role in servicing their local communities. 

Australia Post executive general manager for community and consumer, Nicole Sheffield said today’s announcement highlighted the importance of Bank@Post which provides banking services at more than 3,500 local Post Offices.

“We know how important the local Post Office is for so many communities and small businesses – particularly in regional areas. The support of CBA and NAB will ensure access to banking services for those communities can be maintained, and additional related services introduced, to better support the needs of banking customers for the next decade,” Ms Sheffield said.

“The agreements will also allow us to invest further in our Post Office network, recognising the valuable role our people play in supporting communities across the country. Our Post Offices also play a critical role during natural disasters, emergencies and more recently through the COVID-19 pandemic with access to products and services through lockdowns and travel restrictions. 

“Australia Post looks forward to working closely with CBA, NAB and our other banking partners to continue to provide essential banking services to their customers across our national network of Post Offices.”

CBA group executive retail banking services, Angus Sullivan, said, “Millions of Australians rely on CBA to do their banking, and I’m proud that this renewed partnership gives our customers more choice with how and where they bank with us over the next decade. We know that some customers want face to face banking services and this partnership with Australia Post supports our commitment to ensuring our customers in regional Australia have ongoing access to these services at the more than 3,500 Bank@Post outlets across the country.  

“We have a strong relationship with Australia Post and investing multi millions of dollars each year for a decade in the capability, technology and security of Bank@Post outlets builds on our priority to reimagine services and ensure our customers can continue to bank easily, safely and securely whenever they visit a participating Australia Post outlet.” 

NAB group executive personal panking, Rachel Slade said, “We want to ensure we are serving our customers well no matter how they choose to bank with us. 

“Together with our branch network, this partnership means our customers have more than 4000 locations they can bank with us. It provides extra support, particularly for those remote and rural customers, to be able to access face-to-face banking services.”

Westpac’s contract with Australia Post has been extended for a further 12 months. Westpac and Australia Post have commenced negotiations around a possible new longer agreement. 

www.auspost.com.au

THE Accommodation Association today congratulated the NSW Government on its rapid provision of lockdown financial support for business but called for urgent assistance for Sydney hotels struggling to survive.

Accommodation Association CEO Dean Long said, "There’s not a hotel in Sydney that hasn’t been hard hit over the past 15 months of COVID travel bans and restrictions.

"These hotels are now sub 2 percent occupancy and facing at least 50 percent cancellation rates all the way through to August. They urgently need government support to offset this impact, to keep the doors open and to keep paying staff.
 
“The NSW Government’s support package is obviously welcome news for hotels outside metropolitan Sydney who will now be hit with school holiday cancellations, but it’s the Sydney hotels, including the larger ones, who most need help and need it now.
 
“We’ll continue to engage with government to ensure our sector and members emerge on the other side of COVID," Mr Long said.

 About the Accommodation Association

The Accommodation Association represents over 80 percent of all known accommodation providers from small regional parks, caravan parks, serviced apartments and resorts through to the largest hotel groups in the world including Accor, Hilton, Wyndham Destinations and IHG.

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THE Carbon Market Institute (CMI) has welcomed the release of a suite of carbon farming video case studies showing farmers benefiting from 'carbon money' under the Federal Government’s Emissions Reduction Fund.

The videos were produced in collaboration with the Clean Energy Regulator and tell the story of five different carbon farming methods: soil carbon, vegetation, revegetation, plantation forestry and human-induced regeneration.

John Connor, CEO of the CMI said, “These case studies highlight the significant employment and environmental benefits that come from carbon farming projects, as well as the climate benefits that flow from sequestering carbon through agricultural activities and land management.

“There’s been a decade of successful carbon farming in Australia and these stories are just the tip of the iceberg.”

The case studies, drawn from projects in New South Wales and Victoria, demonstrate that carbon farming works successfully with traditional farming practices, increases productivity and drought tolerance while reducing farm input costs, and provides farmers with new income streams. 

“The government’s Emission Reduction Fund has thrown a lifeline to the Carbon Farming Initiative that first began in 2011,” Mr Connor said. “Almost 1000 projects have been developed so far and thousands more can be delivered that will bring real benefits to regional Australia and the global climate.”

The CMI’s 2017 Carbon Farming Industry Roadmap highlights that with the right policies and ambition, carbon farming can support the development of over 20,000 jobs by 2030, and over $20 billion in carbon project revenue, mostly flowing to regional Australia.

Meanwhile, the CMI’s world-first Carbon Industry Code of Conduct, which defines industry best practice for carbon project developers, becomes fully operational on July 1, 2021.

“With the right policies, and a laser-like focus on integrity, our carbon farming industry can become a major exporter of carbon reduction credits and expertise to a world increasingly demanding them,” Mr Connor said.

The five projects highlighted in the videos are:

• soil carbon – Olsen’s;
• human induced regeneration – Brindingabba Station; 
• revegetation – Ploughshare;
• plantation forestry - WeAct;
• vegetation – avoided deforestation – Bulgoo Station. 

“It was a pleasure to visit these carbon farming sites firsthand to see the benefits being delivered and I’d encourage others to do so,” Mr Connor said. “I’d like to thank the farmers, their staff and local businesses we spoke to for their enthusiastic participation.”

About the CMI

The Carbon Market Institute is the industry association for business leading the transition to net-zero emissions and has over 100 corporate members including primary producers, carbon project developers, emission intensive companies and legal, banking and advisory service providers.

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