Julia Banks. Credit:Andrew Meares He was very sorry for not supplying all the promised services to thousands of financial planning customers, resulting in $30 million compensation. Very sorry for overcharging fees. Very sorry for errors of a "reasonable magnitude" which saw more than 1.3 million customers within the OnePath financial advisory and life insurance arm suffer, including 1400 who had their superannuation directed to the wrong account. These apologies are the opening moves.

ANZ boss Shayne Elliott appears before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics. Credit:Andrew Meares But they were "mistakes", and the bank has since "put it right". Processes have changed, systems have been put in place. There's no reason to push further, Mr Elliott implied. He's "proud of the culture of the bank", because when it's made aware of problems, it fixes them. While Thorburn delivered a rousing defence of the industry,his performance has been less impressive than Narev., or ANZ chief Shayne Elliott. Credit:Andrew Meares There's nothing more to see here.

The chair, Liberal MP David Coleman, then steps in, floating solutions the Turnbull government hopes to see arise from the inquiry. By the final hour, Mr Elliott's toes were tapping, his mouth twitching downwards as the clock ticked down Mr Elliott, having the advantage of watching his Commonwealth Bank counterpart Ian Narev, perform the day before, is prepared. "Yes, absolutely." The dance moves on. The deputy chair, Labor's Matt Thistlethwaite, comes in with a list of issues. Why the bank continued to deal with Pankaj and Radhika Oswal, after Mr Oswal admitted to forging a document to secure a loan approaching $900 million. Why the bank goes through customer data to identify other products they could be sold.

Mr Thistlethwaite starts his final steps - he doesn't have enough time, he has too many questions. If the committee requires it, will Mr Elliott come back? The bank chief, his fingers shifting his glasses around the table, saw this move on Tuesday. He's more than happy to return. We move to another Liberal MP - Julia Banks - who, in a repeat from Mr Narev's session, defends the benefits of the inquiry over a royal commission because it "cuts to the chase". But her largely unanswered questions about culture and training do nothing for her overall point. Labor takes back the lead, wrenching the admission that one in 40 financial planning employees had been found to have committed ASIC breaches. But standards have been raised, the bank is doing better, Mr Elliott says, as the back and forth moves on. Mr Elliott, whose name has been misspelled on his committee name plaque, was not as practiced as Mr Narev in his steps, but just as versed in controlling the floor. He gifts a government committee member with a promise to be a "market leader" and look at reducing credit card rates, ("It's a good day for Australia", Scott Buchholz declares) but stumbles slightly when questioned on political donations by Greens MP Adam Bandt and how they are justified to the board.

That's an interesting question, Mr Elliott says, fingering his glasses, but donations are justified as "supporting the democratic process in the country," although yes, discussions with the board are ongoing as to whether they continue. By the final hour, Mr Elliott's toes were tapping, his mouth twitching downwards as the clock ticked down. He emerged almost as unscathed as Mr Narev, having followed the path the Commonwealth Bank chief marked out on the floor, his shoes only slightly more scuffed. But the repeat performance only made it clearer that while the government, through Mr Coleman, may hold the conductors baton, it has no control over the tune these players are dancing to.