The Australian Banking Association (ABA) is the information source for the news media on the Australian banking industry, providing information, analysis and context on industry issues.
The ABA plays an active role in the public dialogue on banking and financial services, providing commentary on broader industry issues and facilitating access to other sources of information.
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Gary Hardgrave (Host): To the story, Christine Rose and her husband, David, they fell victim to a vicious, really vicious scam. It’s robbed them of $40,000 the money was the house deposit for their first property purchased together. It’s all gone because a cyber-criminal impersonated their solicitor. Christine Rose (clip from previous interview): It’s affected… Read more »
Cassandra Hough (Host): Now staying with the drought, and off the back of all this drought concerns and frost events, there are a lot of producers facing financial distress, and as we heard on the program yesterday, they’ve been asking for banks to be flexible and provide some tailored support for farmers going forward. But what… Read more »
Gary Adshead (Host): And what’s happening is the ACCC, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission are going to be given some funding to tackle this as an issue and then potentially ban debit card charges from January 1, 2026 that seems a long way away anyway. Let’s talk about it now with Anna Bligh, the CEO… Read more »
Anna Bligh: This new framework is a comprehensive approach to the terrible scourge of scams. This will mean that every single part of the scam chain where scammers try to take the hard earned money of Australians will now have to play a role in preventing scams, detecting them and keeping Australians safe. Journalist: I… Read more »
One of the most alarming consequences of the recent CrowdStrike technical outage was how quickly scammers moved to take advantage of it. Within 24 hours, the Australian Cyber Security Centre had issued a warning to Australians about the potential risk of scams. Scammers pounced, impersonating CrowdStrike and Microsoft employees to trick people into providing remote access to… Read more »
Journalist: Maybe if we start off just with these merchant fees and card surcharges, I guess, why are they even necessary to begin with? Anna Bligh: Every time you make a purchase with a card and that payment goes to the person it’s supposed to go to, it’s gone over a set of rails. They’re… Read more »
Jo Trilling (Host): When was the last time your phone pinged with a message from your bank, a fake one, of course, because they are rarely ever real, but they are relentless. So, should the banks be doing more to stop it? Anna Bligh is the CEO of the Australian Banking Association. Welcome to Drive… Read more »
Oliver Peterson (Host): Extra protections from the banks to shield you from scams are going to be front and centre of a new campaign, which has been launched today by the Australian Banking Association. Joining me on the line is its CEO, Anna Bligh, good afternoon. Anna Bligh (Guest): Good afternoon. How are you? Oliver… Read more »
Matthew Pantelis (Host): But let’s talk scams and banks, because there’s a new campaign launched to protect us well, to at least educate us further about scams. It’s called ‘The Fight Against Scams Never Stops’. Anna Bligh, CEO, Australian Bankers Association. Anna, good morning. Anna Bligh (Guest): Good morning. How are you? Matthew Pantelis: All… Read more »
Georgie Tunny: Anna Bligh is CEO of the Australian Banking Association. And we’ve heard so many examples of scammers infiltrating customers existing phone message threads from banks. If people can’t trust the bank’s own correspondence, what hope do they have? Anna Bligh: The stories that you’ve run this week have been absolutely heartbreaking. And I hear… Read more »
The Australian Banking Association (ABA) welcomes the Federal Government’s upcoming campaign to further educate the community about elder abuse. ABA CEO Anna Bligh said this was a timely opportunity to further raise awareness and shine the spotlight on financial elder abuse. “Australian banks are deeply conscious of financial elder abuse. They see it playing out every day and have… Read more »
Steve Austin: Do consider this scenario, a relative or a friend caring for an older person decides to dip into that person’s accounts to pay for their own holidays or home renovations. And the banking institution can see the money going out of one account into another account. And they want to flag it with the… Read more »
The ABA has today released the findings of a strategic review undertaken by Accenture into the roll-out of Australia’s Consumer Data Right (CDR) regime. The CDR went live to customers of major banks in July 2020, and to customers of other banks in July 2021. Approaching 4 years since its launch, the ABA commissioned Accenture… Read more »
The Australian Banking Association welcomes ASIC’s approval of an updated Banking Code of Practice that will continue to drive better banking outcomes for customers. The updated Code strengthens consumer protections by providing customers with safeguards that are in addition to the law. ABA CEO Anna Bligh said this Code will provide an even higher… Read more »
Cathie Schnitzerling: The country’s largest banks, along with the big supermarkets like Coles and Woolworths, Bunnings and Australia Post, have agreed to pay Armaguard $50 million to ensure that cash can get to you and me for the next year. But after that, it’s still not clear whether there will be a sustainable way to… Read more »
Michael Rowland: Let’s get more now on one of the main stories we’re following this morning, that big financial lifeline given to cash transport company Armaguard. It’s been bailed out by the big four banks, Woolworths and Coles, and a number of other major retailers who rely on the service to get their cash. The… Read more »
Journalist: The question I have is, are these regulations actually necessary, because my understanding is that a lot of banks already disclose this information? Anna Bligh: These changes will mean more consistency for customers. Many banks are already doing a number of these things to make it easier for customers to get information. If these… Read more »
With it being World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, the Australian Banking Association (ABA) is reminding older Australians about how they can better protect themselves from scams, fraud and financial abuse.
Stephen Jones, Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services: Good morning everybody, how are we going? Good to speak with you. Great to be here this morning, an exciting accountment. As you know the Albanese government has made a priority fighting scammers and ensuring that we can keep Australian’s money safe. From coming into government… Read more »
Scammers are being put on notice with the announcement today of a major expansion in intelligence sharing designed to dismantle scams and better protect Australians.