- Introduction
Background
1.1For nearly a decade, the House Standing Committee on Economics (the committee) has conducted annual hearings into Australia’s four major banks to inquire into a range of matters relating to their performance and conduct.
1.2The first inquiry of this kind was referred to the committee in 2016, during the 45th Parliament, almost a year before the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry was established in 2017. Subsequent reviews were established in the 46th and 47th Parliaments, each with the additional scope of inquiring into the progress made by banks towards addressing the recommendations of the Royal Commission.
1.3In October 2025, at the start of the 48th Parliament, the Treasurer again requested that the committee undertake a review of Australia’s four major banks. The terms of reference for the inquiry are included in the preliminaries of this report.
1.4This report summarises the key discussions at the first public hearings for this inquiry, which were held in November 2025.
Conduct of the inquiry
1.5The committee held public hearings with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited and National Australia Bank on 18 and 19 November 2025.
1.6The hearings were open to the public and broadcast on the Parliament’s website, allowing interested parties the opportunity to view proceedings. Transcripts of the public hearings are available on the committee’s website.
1.7A list of representatives who appeared before the committee can be found at Appendix A. The banks’ responses to questions taken on notice at the hearings and questions in writing following the hearings, as well as other public documents received from the banks, are available on the committee’s website and listed in Appendix B.
Structure of the report
1.8This report consists of six chapters:
- Chapter 1 provides an overview of the conduct of the inquiry.
- Chapter 2 focuses on matters relating to the culture, conduct and governance of the four major banks. It considers banks’ ongoing responses to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry and highlights several regulatory matters which were explored during the public hearings.
- Chapter 3 provides a summary of the four major banks’ comments on the current economic and policy outlook in Australia.
- Chapter 4 examines matters relating to banks’ lending for housing and business customers.
- Chapter 5 sets out a range of matters relating to the provision of banking services, including services in regional, rural and remote areas. It also explores the uptake of emerging technology to support banking services.
- Chapter 6 summarises banks’ responses to issues such as scams and fraud, money laundering and financial abuse.
- In this report, references to Committee Hansard are to proof transcripts. Proof transcripts are the preliminary, unedited records of proceedings. Page numbers may vary between proof and official transcripts.