The commonwealth bank of Australia constitutes a group which includes its subsidiaries as well as the joint ventures in which it has a controlling interest. The Group is the leading financial services provider which operates through its branches and units in Australia and in the overseas market. Our business is operated through different countries like Australia, Europe, New Zealand, USA and some regions of Asian Pacific Countries. The products and services that we deal in are: Retail banking, premium banking, funds management, insurance and investment services, institutional and business banking.
Our code along with our corporate values and principles provides a consolidated framework to be referred by the parties that are associated with the company in any capacity for the directions for the acceptable behaviour and actions while performing their professional obligations.
We expect our people to behave in the ways that are consistent with our core values such as integrity, excellence, honesty, customer loyalty and accountability for our services. We aim at protecting the interests of all our employees as well as other stakeholders. Therefore, the entire group is strongly committed to maintain the high degree of transparency and fairness in all the dealings entered into with our clients. The high level of transparency in our conduct also extends to the manner in which we maintain our relations with the people who are exposed in the political aspects, our recruitment processes and also our dealings with the regulatory bodies to whom we are directly or indirectly associated (ANZ, 2015).
The group’s code of conduct is a comprehensive statement that contains the corporate ethics and philosophies to be followed while conducting the business practice.
At commonwealth bank we adhere to a wide range of codes while conducting our banking practice so as to ensure that high quality of services are provided to all our customers. We have an active commitment towards maintaining effective controls to prevent detect any business practices that are illegal or unethical in nature. The code that we have formulated for our institution is applicable on all the employees, managers, directors, contractors, staff temporarily employed and suppliers.
Discrimination at workplace is to have occurred when the employees of such organisation are treated in a manner that is less favourable to than the other employees of the same organisation. There can be various grounds on which discrimination can occur in any company such as racial factors like colour, gender, origination, age, caste or nationality.
We at CBA have formulated a policy to prevent and mitigate the matters concerning discrimination. The policy is named as Equal Opportunity Policy. This policy is aimed at treating all the employees of the organisation at par i.e. they all must be treated in equal or similar manner. Our company believes that it is the right of individuals of an organisation to behave in the fair and equitable manner. The discrimination free culture in our organisation is always encouraged to create the positive work environment for all the members of the organisation (ANZ, 2018).
For instance, in the case of John Marshal who was a senior banker at CBA was offered a redundancy package because of his age and was replaced by Debbie Lotz who was 13 years younger than Marshal. This was merely done on the grounds of age factor which was a discrimination practice on part of company. Moreover, the local staffs were preferred for the posts of head office of the bank. It was another discriminating factor. Based on these facts the above discrimination policy is drafted (Keay, 2017)
When the supervisors or senior members in an organisation treat their subordinates in the manner which is unethical or inappropriate the concern of exploitation arises. Commonwealth Bank of Australia believes in fostering a culture where the senior groups do not misuse their powers to exploit their juniors or subordinates. We are firmly against the practices that promote the exploitation in the organisation and therefore our group has formulated heavy penalties for the violation of our exploitation code. No senior member of the organisation is entitled to behave in an irrational ways with their subordinates and in case of any breach the parties involved in such practices will have to face the adverse implications for their exploitative behaviour. The exploitation of the employees working within the organisation can occur in different ways such as labour exploitation, sexual exploitation etc. The top level managerial persons or the senior bodies are not allowed to exert any kind of work pressure through the unethical or unlawful ways such as coercion or threating or any other way.
The human resource department of the company has been handed over with the responsibility of dealing with the matters involving employee exploitation of any sort in the best possible manner so that such practices are not repeated in the organisation (Baughn, et. al., 2010).
We at commonwealth bank believe in the fact that corruption has severe impact on the communities in which it occurs. The corruption in an organisation impedes its economic growth and also it undermines the organisational accountability, threatens the laws and the affects the competitive edge of the organisation (Anyali, 2017). The term corruption includes various fraudulent practices and organised crimes, financing of terrorism.
We are firmly committed to secure the well-being of all the people, businesses as well as the communities that are associated with through the implementation of zero tolerance policy to the corruption as well as facilitation payments in all the areas and levels of the organisation and its group (Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 2018).
The corruption and anti-bribery policy of Commonwealth Bank of Australia supports the approach of zero tolerance towards corruption. Our policy acts as the single as well as consistent standard against the issues of corruption across the entire CBA group. The policy is designed in compliance with the provisions of Australian Criminal Code Act, 1995; the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, 1977 and the UK Bribery Act, 2010.
We do not accept any corruptive practices and inducements during the course of our business practices. We actively participates in national as well international efforts to battle with the issues of financial crimes such as fraud, corruption etc.
The policy sets out following points:
The service providers or suppliers or employees of the organisation who have any sort of information in regards to any suspicious act or fraudulent and/or unethical behaviour of any of the member of CBA group must report on the identified matter to our SpeakUP Hotline Numbers and IDs which are as follows:
To avoid and deal with the fraudulent practices of our members or any third party to which we are associated in any professional capacity, we have formulated a fraud policy that defines the fraud control principles of the CBA Group. This policy also sets out the requirements for honest behaviour and the accountability for the banking operations. It clearly pronounces that the group does not tolerate any type of fraud or dishonest behaviour on part of any member of the institution. We are strongly committed to promote and maintain an ethical culture across the organisation.
Further, the group has put in place a program called Risk Management Assurance Program so as to monitor the compliance of fraud policy of the organisation.
All the organisational employees, temporary staff members, contractors as well as the service providers should ensure that they are fully aware of the their professional responsibilities and obligations about the prevention, detection and the reporting of fraudulent activities in the organisation. All the said parties are required to:
All the heads of business unit are supposed to identify and also manage the risk of fraud on their respective units as well as on the overall organisation so as to protect the interests of the customers of the group and to safeguard the group’s assets and reputation in the market.
For instance, the bank had been sued by various banking authorities on the grounds of withdrawal of monies from the accounts of dead people and also it had charged interests on the loans given to its clients at the double rate. These practices were not tenable. On the basis of this the policy for fraudulent practices has been drafted (Reuters, 2014).
Further, the bank was also sued for its fraudulent practices of manipulating the children’s account to show them activated for the purpose of earning incentives. Such practices amounted to the breach of trust of the customers. The above fraud policy is amended to fix such issues (ABC News, 2018).
We strongly believe in placing high importance in fostering the culture of protection of the employees who takes the courage of speaking up about the issues that concerns them. Such issues include anything from severe misconduct to noticing anything that does not feel to be right (Latimer & Brown, 2008).
We encourage everyone whosoever is working with us to speak up and also we provide them complete assurance with trusted avenues to raise the concern. This would be as simple and convenient as an informal discussion between an employee of the company and the managers or through the means of formal channels that have been set up to speak up in the convenient manner.
For instance, in the case of Jeff Morris, who acted like a whistle-blower at CBA by announcing about the corrupt practices of CBA. However, at the time of this announcement, there were no policies to protect the whistle-blowers from the culprits and therefore Jeff had to suffer from severe consequences for reporting such matters to the authorities. Based on these facts, the whistle –blower policy of the company has been drafted (Barker, 2017).
Our speak up program does not only implemented for the employees of the organisation but the Speak Up Hotline is dedicated all the members of the organisation such as managers, directors, contractors, auditors etc. working with CBA group.
The whistle-blower Policy of the group defines the conducts that could be reported to the management:
The board of the company as well as its senior management group encourages the people to speak up on timely basis for the matters that they believe to be unreasonable or unacceptable from the organisation’s point of view. We have put in place adequate processes to safeguard those people who report the unethical or suspicious matters by providing them requisite support. Identification of potential concerns and risks enables the organisation to timely improve the way in which it operates its banking business and also to provide the quality services to the clients of CBA (Singh, et. al., 2005).
All the members of CBA group are expected to perform their functions in compliance with the rules and regulations that are applicable on the organisation as a whole. The group is supposed to comply with the laws of all the countries in which it is operating its business. Appropriate repercussions rise in the circumstances of failure to meet the standards and regulations applicable on the organisations (Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, 2018).
We strictly comply with all the relevant laws and regulations including such laws that are designed for the promotion of fair competition in the market and which prohibits the misuse of the market power. We do not get ourselves engaged with the parties from external world which are involved in the illegal activities (Fidrmuc, Goergen & Renneboog, 2006).
Fraudulent practices include activities relating to insider trading, money laundering and terror financing (Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 2018). We expect our employees to act in the most responsible manner when they are aware of any price sensitive information in context of bank that is to be kept unpublished to maintain the confidentiality (Bhattacharya & Daouk, 2002). Further, we are committed to comply with the provisions of money laundering act and for this purpose we have formulated a plan called anti-money laundering program (Alldridge, 2008). This program consists of such standards which help in identifying and mitigating the risk of money laundering.
Moreover, we also strictly adhere to the principles of corporate governance that are applicable on our organisation (Deutsche Bank, 2015).
References:
ABC News. 2018. Commonwealth Bank admits to manipulation of children’s accounts. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-19/commonwealth-bank-staff-manipulated-childrens-accounts/9779010 Accessed on: 29.08.2018.
Alldridge, P., 2008. Money laundering and globalization. Journal of law and society, 35(4), pp.437-463.
Anyali, A.L.I., 2017. Corruption And The Misuse Of Public Office In The Commonwealth: The Preventive Role Of Law Teachers In Nigeria And South Africa. Journal of Commonwealth Law and Legal Education, 12(1), 1-15.
ANZ, 2015. Code of Compliance and Conduct. Available at: < https://www.anz.com/about-us/corporate-sustainability/governance-risk/code-conduct/> Accessed on: 17.08.2018.
Barker, A. 2017. Banking royal commission: Speaking out against CBA had ‘horrific impact’ on whistle-blower. Available at: < https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-30/banking-whistleblower-jeff-morris-tells-of-horrific-impact/9212536> Accessed on: 29.08.2018.
Baughn, C., Bodie, N.L., Buchanan, M.A. and Bixby, M.B., 2010. Bribery in international business transactions. Journal of Business Ethics, 92(1), pp.15-32.
Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, 2018. Corporate governance: Code of Conduct. Available at: < https://www.bendigoadelaide.com.au/public/corporate_governance/policies/code_of_conduct_policy.asp> Accessed on: 29.08.2018.
Bhattacharya, U. and Daouk, H., 2002. The world price of insider trading. The Journal of Finance, 57(1), pp.75-108.
Cassella, S.D., 2004. Money laundering, terrorism, regulation, laws and legislation. Journal of Money Laundering Control, 7(1), pp.92-94.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 2018. Anti-bribery and corruption policy and program. Available at: < https://www.commbank.com.au/about-us/opportunity-initiatives/opportunity-from-good-business-practice/sustainable-business-practices/anti-bribery-and-corruption.html> Accessed on: 29.08.2018.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 2018. Anti-money laundering/counter terrorism: Speaking Up. Available at: < https://www.commbank.com.au/about-us/opportunity-initiatives/opportunity-from-good-business-practice/sustainable-business-practices/speaking-up.html> Accessed on: 29.08.2018.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 2018. Anti-money laundering/counter terrorism: Speaking Up. Available at: < https://www.commbank.com.au/about-us/opportunity-initiatives/opportunity-from-good-business-practice/sustainable-business-practices/speaking-up.html> Accessed on: 29.08.2018.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 2018. Managing Fraud. Available at: < https://www.commbank.com.au/about-us/opportunity-initiatives/opportunity-from-good-business-practice/sustainable-business-practices/managing-fraud.html Accessed on: 29.08.2018.
Deutsche Bank, 2015. Code of Business Conduct and Ethics for Deutsche Bank Group. Available from: https://www.banktrack.org/download/2ee9224/160609_code_of_conduct_en.pdf Accessed on: 29.08.2018.
Fidrmuc, J.P., Goergen, M. and Renneboog, L., 2006. Insider trading, news releases, and ownership concentration. The Journal of Finance, 61(6), pp.2931-2973.
Keay, L., 2017. Senior British banker, 60, claims race, sex and age discrimination after he was ‘forced out of his job’ and replaced by a younger Australian woman. Available at: < https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4898862/British-banker-sues-Australian-bank-discrimination.html> Accessed on: 29.08.2018.
Latimer, P., and Brown, A.J. 2008. Whistleblower Laws: International Best Practice. University of New South Wales Law Journal, 31(3), 766-794.
Nicholas, P.M., 2000. The Myth of Anti-Bribery as Transnational Intrusion. Cornell Int’l LJ, 33, p.627.
Reuters, 2014. Australia’s CBA slashes executive pay by $44 million after regulatory inquiry. Available at: < https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-cba-moneylaundering/australias-cba-slashes-executive-pay-by-44-million-after-regulatory-inquiry-idUSKBN1JP0QE> Accessed on: 29.08.2018.
Singh, J., Carasco, E., Svensson, G., Wood, G. and Callaghan, M., 2005. A comparative study of the contents of corporate codes of ethics in Australia, Canada and Sweden. Journal of World Business, 40(1), pp.91-109.
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