{"id":106292,"date":"2019-08-06T13:34:00","date_gmt":"2019-08-06T02:34:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/?p=106292"},"modified":"2019-08-13T14:55:28","modified_gmt":"2019-08-13T03:55:28","slug":"listen-adele-ferguson-on-banking-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2019\/08\/06\/listen-adele-ferguson-on-banking-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"LISTEN: Adele Ferguson on Banking Bad"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Banking<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

2018 was the year that Australia\u2019s banking industry was turned completely on its head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A slew of shocking revelations about our major banks and the products they were offering their customers lead to a Royal Commission, countless arrests, and the scathing critique of a nation, and on the front lines of it all was Adele Ferguson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adele was the journalist who broke the story and was instrumental in bringing about the subsequent investigation. She gathered testimony from whistleblowers and chased down leads to uncover the depths to which Australia\u2019s banks had been manipulating its customers into making bad decisions. She exposed forgeries, fraud, management cover-ups, and spoke to countless numbers of people whose livelihoods had been destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of people lost a hell of a lot of money,\u201d says Adele.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Banking<\/a>
Author and journalist Adele Ferguson with her new book, Banking Bad<\/a><\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Adele has now written the full story into a book, Banking Bad<\/a><\/em>, and it has quickly become one of the most anticipated reads of the year. Reading it, one gets the sense that we\u2019ve underestimated the true extent of the problem. Banking Bad<\/em> goes right to the heart of the scandal, picking up with the deregulation of the banks in the early to mid \u201880s and explaining how a culture of greed that incentivised deceitful behaviour developed within them. Coupled with the influence of a few very powerful lobby groups who engineered a cycle of weak regulation and control, it\u2019s no wonder that the Australian people have completely lost faith in the ability of the banks to do the right thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen things aren\u2019t regulated properly and the banks are behaving badly due to greed and targets and bonuses, this is what you get,\u201d says Adele.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was clear that ours was a system that wouldn\u2019t change until someone from within decided to bring it down, and a fundamental part of Adele\u2019s story lies in the role played by whistleblowers like Jeff Morris. People came to her with their stories of fraudulent and deceitful behaviour from all the major banks, including CommBank NAB, ANZ, Macquarie, and more. All of them were strikingly similar, pointing to a common belief amongst the banks that we don\u2019t trust ourselves when it comes to our money – a belief that could be exploited for profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

“When things aren\u2019t regulated properly and the banks are behaving badly due to greed and targets and bonuses, this is what you get.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cA lot of these financial products are so complicated\u2026 it\u2019s a bit like going to a doctor,\u201d says Adele. \u201cYou don\u2019t understand what\u2019s wrong with you so you go to a doctor to get advice and to get the right pills and you trust them. You go to the financial advisor or you go to the bank to get advice on how to invest your money and you\u2019re supposed to get the right advice and that hasn\u2019t been what\u2019s happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Banking Bad<\/em> is a fascinating story not just about the banking scandal, but also about journalism and what it\u2019s like to be breaking such an important story. It certainly paints a bleak picture of Australia\u2019s financial services industry, but Adele is looking up – her book is meant to give people hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow that we\u2019ve seen what\u2019s gone wrong and why it\u2019s gone wrong, perhaps we can fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adele Ferguson came in to Booktopia for a book signing and a chat with Joel Naoum, our non-fiction expert – listen to our full podcast with Adele below and grab yourself a signed copy of <\/a>Banking Bad<\/a><\/em> before they sell out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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