The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) and the Australian Banking Association (ABA) have jointly appointed former ASIC Commissioner Sean Hughes as the next chair of the Banking Code Compliance Committee(BCCC).
Hughes is currently general counsel for Vanguard Investments Australia and brings deep expertise in financial services regulation, law, corporate governance, and risk oversight.
Hughes served as a Commissioner at ASIC from 2018 to 2023, where he played a key role in implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. During his time at ASIC, he also led regulatory oversight of a number of sectors, including banking, credit and payment systems, and ASIC’s response to COVID-related hardship measures for bank customers.
Prior to ASIC, Hughes held senior leadership roles including group general counsel at Tabcorp, chief risk and legal officer at UniSuper, and CEO of New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority.
“The ABA looks forward to Mr Hughes continuing the important work of the BCCC in both independently monitoring subscribing banks compliance with the Banking Code, and promoting best practice Code implementation” said ABA Chief Executive Officer Simon Birmingham in a media release.
AFCA chief ombudsman and CEO David Locke said Hughes’ experience would strengthen the committee’s work.
“Sean brings extensive experience to this role and will be a huge asset to the committee as it continues its work promoting compliance with the code, and by doing so, creating fairer outcomes for consumers," Locke said in a media release.
“I would like to thank outgoing Chair Ian Govey AM for his service and guidance over the past six years. Ian has made a significant contribution strengthening the committee’s oversight of the code and improving outcomes for consumers."
As chair, Hughes will oversee the committee’s monitoring of code compliance, commencing a three-year term in early 2026, taking over from outgoing chair Ian Govey.
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