The man at the centre of the Commonwealth Bank financial...

The man at the centre of the Commonwealth Bank financial planning scandal that sparked a senate inquiry has lashed out at the bank, claiming it never properly trained him or supervised his activities.
Don Nguyen, one of eight CBA financial planners banned by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission from providing financial advice until 2018, claims nobody at the bank ever said to him: “Don, this is too much, don’t do this.”
Mr Nguyen allegedly forged signatures, overcharged fees and created unauthorised investment accounts for his customers without their permission. The bank paid hundreds of his clients more than $20 million in compensation.

In Banking Bad, a special investigation by Fairfax Media and the ABC’s Four Corners program airing on Monday night, Mr Nguyen speaks for the first time, saying nobody at the bank, not even its compliance department, ever said “what you are doing is wrong”.
He said most of his customers were “financially educated” and knew what they were signing. “Sorry, how can these people all come up to you and say, oh, I don’t know what I’ve signed, I don’t understand,” he said.
Mr Nguyen was allowed to resign from the bank in July 2009, citing illness amid an investigation that ultimately cost the bank more than $20 million in compensation to hundreds of his clients.
He is claiming $70,000 a year on a personal income protection policy he took out with the Commonwealth Bank’s CommInsure division.
Four Corners and Fairfax Media located him at his family’s dry-cleaning business south of Sydney. Later, in a phone call, he refused to say if he was working in the business. Under the terms of his policy, he is allowed to work in a limited capacity.
The special investigation also uncovered evidence that the Commonwealth Bank suspected Mr Nguyen’s actions might have led to “criminal liability” or attracted a “custodial penalty” if he got caught.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/banking-and-finance/insiders-view-to-cba-financial-planning-scandal-20140504-zr4dp.html#ixzz30p0l9jAn