The Financial Services Royal Commission Round 4 hearings will deal with experiences with financial services entities in remote and regional communities.
It will focus on issues relating to farming finance, natural disaster insurance, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians’ interactions with financial services entities.
The insurance case studies will consider issues arising from:
- Tropical Cyclone Debbie in March 2017;
- the hail storm in Broken Hill in November 2016;
- the bushfires near Wye River in December 2015; and
- the floods in the Hunter Valley in April 2015.
New background papers are now also available relevant to Round 4.
• Background paper 14 – General Insurance
• Background paper 15 – Catastrophes and Natural Disasters
• Background Paper 16: Some Features of Finance in the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Industry
• Background Paper 17: Department of Agriculture and Water Resources
• Background Paper 18: Some Features of Financial Services in Regional and Remote Communities
• Background Paper 19: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers of financial products
• Background Paper 20: Natural Disaster Insurance
• Background Paper 21: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers’ interactions with financial services
It is likely that case studies will include “book up” schemes and consumer leasing and the selling of funeral plans in remote communities.
Round 4 hearings will be held in two locations:
• Brisbane: Monday, 25 June – Friday, 29 June 2018
• Darwin: Monday, 2 July – Friday, 6 July 2018
