Bank boss Shayne Elliott: 'We have broken the trust of many of our customers'

ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliot. Photo / Michael Craig

The Kiwi boss of ANZ Banking Group says the scandals that emerged in Australia's Royal Commission of inquiry have been "saddening and "embarrassing".

Shayne Elliott, who grew up in West Auckland, was the first CEO of the big four Aussie lenders - Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ, National Australia Bank - to publicly back a royal commission, which the Australian Government finally called at the behest of the quartet.

The long-running inquiry into the financial industry slammed the sector last month.

Commissioner Kenneth Hayne said in an interim report late September that wrongdoing was too often driven by greed or "the pursuit of short-term profit at the expense of basic standards of honesty".

"The banks have gone to the edge of what is permitted, and too often beyond that limit, in pursuit of profit," the report said.

Since public hearings began in March, the commission unearthed a string of scandals, including wealth advisers charging dead people for services, instances of lying to regulators about misconduct, and loan officers accepting bribes.

The September report slammed the banks' culture and criticised regulators for taking a timid approach.

According to Bloomberg reports, Elliott told lawmakers in Canberra today that he believed the commission would "have a meaningful impact on executive remuneration this year".

"It was frankly pretty saddening to read the report and it made me feel embarrassed for the industry," Bloomberg reported Elliott saying.

"We have broken the trust of many of our customers for which we unreservedly apologise," he said.

A University of Auckland graduate and former Waitakere College pupil, Elliott now lives in Melbourne with his family. He has been ANZ Group's chief executive since 2016.