#76: The Dogged Journalist Who (May Have) Pricked a Property Bubble – Adele Ferguson

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#76: The Dogged Journalist Who (May Have) Pricked a Property Bubble – Adele Ferguson

Adele Ferguson is an award-winning investigative journalist best known for her work exposing misconduct and fraud in the Australian banking and financial services sectors.

Show notes

Selected links

  • Follow Adele: Website | Twitter
  • Banking Bad, by Adele Ferguson
  • ‘CBA covered up misconduct by rogue financial planner’, Adele’s 1 June 2013 article
  • ‘Banking Bad’, the 2014 Four Corners investigation
  • ‘Money for Nothing’, the 2018 Four Corners investigation
  • The Financial Services Royal Commission website
  • ‘The Theory of Economic Regulation’, seminal article by George Stigler

Topics discussed

  • How did Adele get involved in the story of banking misconduct in Australia? 3:08
  • What were some of the scandals exposed by Adele between 2013 and 2017? 7:28
  • What sort of pressure was brought to bear on Adele while she was breaking these stories? 17:47
  • How did the Banking Royal Commission finally come about? 20:41
  • The story of how, in 2013, a motley group of politicians saved the Future of Financial Advice Act. 26:13
  • The day Adele heard there would be a Financial Services Royal Commission. 30:07
  • Was the Royal Commission the straw that finally broke the housing market’s back? 30:57
  • What did Adele learn about mortgage lending during the Royal Commission? 32:18
  • Regulatory capture in Australia. 36:04
  • Why did the CEO and Chair of NAB announce their resignations when the Royal Commission delivered its final report — and were they warranted? 46:22
  • What was the historical context of Australia’s banking misconduct scandals? 52:00
  • Have the Royal Commission’s recommendations been implemented? 57:53
  • The Royal Commission’s impact on mortgage lending. 58:47