Welcome to our latest issue!  It has been a busy few months, finding us in March heavily concentrated with being an Event Partner at the Better Business Summit (BBS).  This proved to be a great success for the Association and it was great to speak to many members who were there from across the country. We will continue to support the BBS and we look forward to 2016 BBS. You will also see the FBAA at the Australian Broking Awards (ABA) and the Real Estate Awards (we are supporting the category of mortgage broker of the year).  These are coming up in July and we are excited to be a part of these to continue our support to the industry.

The FBAA is holding around 55 PD Days this year around the country (normally it’s around 22-28 per year) and they are all free for FBAA Members to attend. So keep a lookout for these on your email and/or on our website!

There was a strong attendance to the Finsure PD Day in Parramatta where I covered off the FBAA’s stance on many issues of industry importance which are currently being discussed and debated. You’ll see more of the FBAA at many more Aggregator PD Days around the country in the coming months. If your aggregator hasn't invited us to speak at their PD Days then suggest they do. They can email me direct pwhite@fbaa.com.au

Additionally we lodged our submission to the Financial System Inquiry (FSI) highlighting the need to ensure the proper undertakings and investigations are had in relation to SMFS Funding, and noting we do not believe that banning the hotly debated lending product is the answer. There may need to be adjustment as to how a fund/trust operates under a self-managed superannuation fund and that will be determined by the Inquiry, hopefully with further industry engagement.

Furthermore in our submission to the FSI we highlighted the need to reduce over regulation, over-documentation and replication in our sector, together with the removal of the POS Exemptions as they apply to the Motor Finance Sector. We have also highlighted several other areas of conduct that we will be able to speak about in the coming months, once we are released from current confidentiality constraints. But rest assured the FBAA is at the forefront of all that is important and currently happening in the Regulatory and Treasury environment.

This includes, albeit not limited to a recent lengthy teleconference with The Commonwealth Treasury and Assistant Treasurer’s (Hon Josh Frydenberg) Office. We used to have regular Treasury industry consulting committee meetings in relation to the introduction of the NCCP but these stopped some time ago now. This recent meeting provided the Ministers Office and the Minister with an overview our FSI Submission plus other areas we are talking to ASIC about in relation to what is happening in the market space with the apparent inconsistencies with the extraction of e-data used for property valuations, education standard concerns with the regulatory driven conduct of Cert IV and Diploma for our sector, our views on finance brokers operating purely in the non-NCCP sector needing a regulatory registration regime (but certainly not regulation not licensing), SMSF Funding noting my comments above, disclosure of LMI in the Key fact Sheet (KFS) which looks highly likely in the near future, and the future of LMI proactive rebates and portability. These were all well received and we shall keep on working on these with Government and the Regulators as we are the only Peak Industry Body with any long-term practical industry experience speaking at this level.

Lastly don’t forget to mark in your diary, 13th November 2015. FBAA’s National Industry Conference is happening again. This year we will be in SeaWorld’s brand new Convention Centre which is nearing completion. The new venue holds up to 1,000 people and we’re expecting 600 brokers will attend plus our exhibitors to fill this world ranking venue. And then after the knowledge has been imparted throughout the day, then let’s celebrate FBAA Style at our renowned Gala Dinner. This year it will be …… well......you’ll have to wait for more a little later …… but you certainly don’t want to miss it! Enjoy the read, Peter.