Avoid harsh penalties by employing bespoke Mystery Shopping solutions

After a slew of banking scandals in 2018, many Australian finance companies want to ensure code compliance across branches — and for good reason.

In the wake of the Hayne Royal Commission investigations, ASIC can now impose harsher penalties against white-collar violators, with punishments including:

• Up to ten years in prison for individuals
• Corporate fines of at least $9.45 million or triple the profits gained, or
• ten per cent of annual company turnover.

These new penalties send a strong message to the banking world that regulators will no longer tolerate greed and negligence. The potential outcomes could prove devastating for well-established institutions nationwide.

The banking industry is also grappling with a shattered consumer reputation as Australians watched hearings and headlines reveal its years-long betrayal.

Consumers now fear being duped into purchasing useless products, having direct debit cancellations unjustifiably denied, or being offered loans regardless of risk assessment results.

Restoring people’s faith is an uphill battle, but financial institutions can build trust by implementing visibly honest business practices. That’s why it’s vital banks be conspicuous in their efforts to sniff out, halt, and amend any areas of non-compliance quickly.

The first step in correcting code violations is, of course, identification. It’s not always easy to identify service process problems, especially when seeking across-the-board results around the country, but it’s of utmost importance.

This is where mystery shopping proves immeasurably valuable.

Face-to-face and call-in mystery shoppers offer a unique, inside perspective on day-to-day operations. They’re equipped to ask specific questions to elicit particular responses from frontline representatives.

These responses are evaluated for technical compliance based on pre-established protocol standards, pinpointing problem areas so leaders can draft and execute more effective solution strategies.

This data-driven technique leads to increased compliance, even in large corporations with diverse locations. Companies opting for multiple rounds of mystery shoppers report over 50% increase in frontline service compliance over nine years.

Increased compliance translates into revived consumer trust. Visible efforts to diagnose and address compliance issues can restore the financial industry’s tattered reputation by reassuring citizens that banks are responding appropriately to the current national debacle.

More specifically, hiring mystery shoppers and publishing report findings show clients banks are serious about conducting business in an ethical, code-compliant manner. Transparency plays a powerful role in rebuilding good faith, and mystery shopping offers banking professionals a way to bridge the trust gap they helped create.