CBA advisers ran from ASIC

Speaking at the Senate Economics References Committee's Scrutiny of Financial Advice inquiry, he said that "People who know they have done wrong, once the investigation starts, run away and you don't get a chance to sack them."

He noted this prevented the bank from citing the reasons for terminating an employee to ASIC.

Promoting transparency of adviser misconduct through ASIC's register was especially important, CBA Wealth Management group executive Annabel Spring added, because the bank "[knows] of advisers who have been terminated and then started at another licensee."

Narev reiterated CBA's "fundamental duty to do the right thing by customers" during the hearing, pointing to the company's independent Open Advice Review program.

He did concede, however, that the compensation process had taken longer than customers might have hoped, saying that it would continue "this year and most of next year."

"We have 400 people working on a file-by-file process going back more than 10 years, and the file recording process was not good," he said.

"There's nothing we would all like more than to get it done as quickly as we can, but we must get it right."