ASIC chair warns banks on wealth market return

ASIC chair Sarah Court has warned banks considering a return to wealth management or financial advice not to repeat the conduct failures exposed by the financial services royal commission.

Speaking at the Australian Banking Association conference on June 17, 2026, Court said the regulator still sees banks getting the basics wrong, including paying the right interest and handling customer hardship properly.

The remarks come as major lenders again debate whether they should re-enter wealth and advice businesses they largely retreated from after the 2017-2019 royal commission.

Royal commission lessons

Court said the lessons of the royal commission should not be forgotten or diluted. Her warning focused less on grand strategy than on everyday conduct, arguing that trust remains the key risk if banks try to expand back into advice.

She said ASIC’s concern is often not innovation, but basic failures such as banks not paying the interest rates they said they would or not responding properly when customers are in hardship.

Banks push for more advice

Westpac chief executive Anthony Miller has argued banks should be allowed to provide more basic financial advice. He said customers need help moving money out of low- or zero-interest accounts and avoiding scams, and that this should not recreate the conflicts that drove the royal commission.

ANZ chief executive Nuno Matos has also backed a return to wealth management, according to the reporting.

What happens next

The issue now is how far banks may push beyond simple guidance into broader wealth products, and whether ASIC responds with formal guidance or a public stance.

For the industry, the stakes are reputational as well as regulatory. A bank comeback to wealth and advice could reopen conflict-of-interest concerns and renew scrutiny of how lenders treat customers on interest, hardship and scams.