Aussie lawmakers suggest setting up of banking complaint tribunal

Sydney

A GROUP of Australian lawmakers recommended a banking customer complaints tribunal should be set up by July next year, to make binding decisions while minimising the involvement of lawyers, amid rising dissatisfaction with the country's financial system.

The recommendation, however, failed to dampen calls from the opposition Labor Party for a Royal Commission, or a powerful judicial inquiry into the broader financial industry plagued by a series of scandals involving misleading financial advice, insurance fraud and alleged interest-rate rigging.