Banking Lobby Likely to Scuttle Hayne reforms, says Fels


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Consumer advocate Allan Fels has predicted that reform of the financial services sector after the Hayne Royal Commission is likely to be undermined by the powerful industry lobby.

"Hayne's answer was tougher regulation, which we may get a bit of, and change in bank culture,” Fels told a Melbourne Press Club audience in early September. 

"The financial services lobby is perhaps the most powerful and effective in Australia. It's fought off reform over many years. I think it will probably do the same over the next two to three years years, and I can already see it having an effect."

In conversation with MPC president and multi award-winning investigative journalist Adele Ferguson, Fels discussed his varied career after heading the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, from being dumped from the independent wage panel for 7-Eleven, to his work reforming the taxi industry and informing insurgent ride-sharing services. He also spoke of the importance of mental health services sector reform and gave his thoughts on the recent ACCC digital platform inquiry.

The media lunch event celebrated the launch of Fels' new memoir Tough Customer. The book is published by Melbourne University Press.

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