CANBERRA, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has thrown his support behind new laws that would require banks to only sell products in their customers' best interests.
Under the proposal put forward by the Productivity Commission in a review of the banking sector published on Friday, an independent "integrity officer" would be installed at all major banks whose duty would be to report any breaches of the laws to the corporate watchdog.
The Productivity Commission's comprehensive review criticised Australia's big banks for pushing "a blizzard of barely differentiated" products onto customers for their own profit.
It urged the government to curb the power of the four major banks, highlighting their "conflicted advice" and "persistently opaque pricing" for loans.
Turnbull, who worked as a merchant banker and venture capitalist before entering politics, on Saturday said he was in favour of the integrity officer idea but said the government would await the final report from the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.
He said that the "many failings and wrongs" of the industry had stemmed from "a failure to put the customer first."
"We are committed to ensure that those who have done the wrong thing will be held to account, and that the wrongdoing will not be repeated," Turnbull told News Corp Australia on Saturday.
Launching the report on Friday, Treasurer Scott Morrison said that the government was giving "very serious consideration" to the integrity officer proposal.
Both Turnbull and Morrison opposed a royal commission into the banking sector for months before being pressured into establishing the inquiry but both admitted they were wrong to do so after shocking evidence of misconduct was uncovered.
