Banks need to show more than mea culpas and committees

“We never want to go through an experience like that again,” Brian Hartzer told the House of Representatives economics committee in Canberra on Friday.

• Adele Ferguson
• WAtoday

The Westpac boss was of course referring to the banking royal commission, which he described as “a sad indictment on the financial services industry”.

It certainly was an indictment on a sector that has been riddled with scandals for years that were fobbed off as sideshows caused by a few bad apples.

Hartzer believed the royal commission was as significant an event as the 1991 recession, which he described as a “massive wake-up call on credit and…

• Banks need to…