What can the Banking Royal Commission achieve: Regulating for good corporate culture?

Abstract

This article identifies corporate culture as a key contributor to the sort of egregious corporate misconduct identified in the current Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industries. The authors outline existing strategies for regulating culture in the banking and finance industry and consider the likely outcomes of the Banking Royal Commission. Taking the proposed Banking Executive Accountability Regime as a case study, the authors argue that the industry’s privacy, autonomy and competition concerns, forcefully argued in policymaking circles, may well stymie any proposals that may be put forward, no matter how bad the conduct revealed turns out to be.