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The industry associations have had their say on the interim report of the Royal Commission, which was released on Friday (September 28).
The executive director of the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA) Peter White raised an issue about a seeming lack of understanding, but also said it was “not a game changer”.
He said, “We are still examining the documents in detail, however the FBAA will be making an extensive submission on this. On first glance it appears the commission does not fully understand the finance broking sector.
“We have had extensive dealings with Treasury, ASIC and the Productivity Commission about these issues and this report appears to be simply repeating the same things.
“This is not a game changer for brokers. This interim report has recommendations only and many of those seem to have no material impact on how we do business.
“We expected an interim report like this and we will work through the points but nowhere is there any suggestion that the broking sector is systemically broken.”
CEO of the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA), Mike Felton, welcomed the report, but raised some other concerns.
The first concern was that the report ‘ignored’ competition in its terms of reference. Felton said, “Ignoring competition when considering further changes to the financial system could lead to unintended consequences, and risks driving customers back to bank branches.
“The mortgage broking industry, through the Combined Industry Forum (CIF), is implementing important reforms in a manner that seeks to preserve competition and consumer choice.”
Felton also acknowledged that broker remuneration was mentioned in the report, again mentioning the work the CIF is doing to address these issues.
Both industry associations will submit more detailed responses to the Royal Commission once they have thoroughly looked through the report.
