Most people assume that the bank wouldn’t loan them money if they couldn’t afford to repay it. They think banks are assessing the borrower’s risk, when in fact they are assessing the lender’s risk.

I’d be fully on board with your view if every loan came with a statement from the bank that reads something like, “We have approved your loan because in a worst-case scenario, we are confident we will get our money back. You, on the other hand, in the same scenario, would experience a very high degree of financial and emotional pain. You are responsible to assess your own risk. We value you as a customer, but we value our shareholders more.”

I understand that would make closing new loans a challenge. My point is that if banks want to highlight caveat emptor, they need to take more responsibility themselves for educating unwitting borrowers. I’d prefer that over more regulation.

Any person in any Frontline is always going to cop it from disgruntled customers (initially). Perhaps the best we can all do in a similar situation is to “delegate upward”. i.e. Help the disgruntled customer by having them sit down with a superior where they can vent, and the superior can (or might) do something to assist.

What you say is true – many people have made lots of money from taking out loans, but often that is in spite of Banks, and not so much because of them.

Where Banks let down people who are dependent on them to “be fair”, they DESERVE a shellacking in my book. You mentioned “people need to take responsibility for themselves”, and yet some of the most widely reported errors by the Banks in this whole debacle were charging dead people fees for service, and over-selling to people who were mentally impaired and not able to be overly responsible.

I don’t blame you for supporting your own industry Phillip – just don’t forget the little guy once you have become more senior !! ;)

Benny

Whatever happened to balance reporting?

As a frontline banker who has to raise a young family, I value my role and love our customers. My colleagues and I are copping the brunt of the community’s anger. You have no idea how much compliance and procedures we have to follow just to stay employed. The over the top compliance is starting to impact our customer service perception.

Whilst I feel sorry for those people who have suffered as mentioned in the Royal Commission, I feel the pendulum of public sentiments have swung too far against the banking industry. There ought to be a reasonable level of self reliance and responsibility. It should be up to every individual to know what they are getting into and not rely solely on regulations to protect them.

We all need to use more common sense.