The Australian Bankers' Association has published a new “conduct background check protocol”.

The move – designed to rid the sector of bad apples – will require banks to examine HR files for prospective employees seeking to join from another bank.

The ABA says the new protocol will identify rogue employees who may have sold the wrong products to customers or breached data confidentiality in the past, and stop them from applying for a new job at competitor.

Banks already conduct criminal history checks on new staff, but these can miss serious misconduct at previous banks according to ABA chief Anna Bligh.

“Anyone who is guilty of a serious type of misconduct that breaches bank policy or has the potential to cause harm to customers has absolutely no place in the Australian banking industry,” Ms Bligh told Fairfax.

The new measures come after the ABA failed to establish a register of bad bankers in the wake of multiple conduct scandals.

The Financial Sector Union has described it as a “bad apples register”, that may unnecessarily capture trivial breaches.

The ABA says the regime will apply to; “those who have been dismissed for misconduct; resigned after being notified of an investigation; or been notified of an investigation but have not yet resigned or been dismissed. The regime is not intended to pick up staff who had a problem but were performance managed to re-establish their career,” reports say.