Hello All,

End Of Financial Year has come and gone and the second half of the year is already firing along full-steam ahead.

The Regulatory front-line and some silly ‘calls to action’ have made headlines over the past week so let’s put everything into perspective.

Firstly, the Interest Only Review by ASIC was NOT doom and gloom as many headlines would like you to think. In fact the FBAA was holding a PD Morning in Perth WA when things went public in the press and the headlines were simply wrong. Even ASIC in Perth were curious by the headlines, which basically took a shot at brokers being incentivised wrongly by lenders to get their customers to take out an Interest Only Home Loan.

I spoke to ASIC at our Perth Function and their comment was basically how did that make headlines? It was a minor comment. They agreed with me, it was a good report with great news that brokers are doing the right thing in this area of lending. We all need to ensure we ‘cross the T’s and dot the I’s’ and double check we have all the necessary supporting documents to avoidance income and expenditure. Anything else is just a headline grab. 

Then we have the issue of a ‘call to action’ for finance brokers to write via an ‘unacceptable’ template to their local member of parliament to lobby against a proposed increase in the aggregate Professional Indemnity Cover (PI) to $20m. Cough Cough ….. this is shear fantasy and based on completely wrong information and a complete misunderstanding of the broker marketplace.

The Council that overseas Electronic Conveyancing in each state is trying to have PI increase to an aggregate of $20m when you act on a Conveyancing matter …. do you ? ….. no …. so then this doesn’t apply to you. If you do and there are very, very few in Australia who are finance brokers that do this, then this Council wants the cover lifted so to better protect people if fraud happens when Verification of Identification (VOD) happens on a conveyance which is 

around State Based legislation.

The PI Cover that a finance broker has does not cover this and covers us under Federal Legislation for the NCCP.   For this sort of cover it would be a separate policy to what a finance broker has today if it were applicable (which it isn’t), and our identification of a borrower under AML/CTF Laws is ID for a loan application not a conveyance …. two very different things.

Our Insurers have confirmed this, the Regulators have confirmed this, key Senior Industry Experts have confirmed this. So let’s not take unnecessary steps with State Politicians in your local area. If this by some miracle gets traction at a State level and they try and impact Federal legislation then I/FBAA 

have already tabled this before the Minister’s Office / Treasury and with ASIC, so 'we have your back' so to speak as a safe-guard.

The National Industry Conference 2015 “The Year of Distinction” is rapidly approaching, so please seats are limited albeit we are in a much bigger space 

(twice the size actually).  To not miss out, you must book early. Go to the home page of the FBAA’s newly completed website and click on the link. It is singularly the largest broker attended Industry Conference in the Industry, and our Gala Dinner is now known as the "Platinum VIP Event" to go to. FBAA Members don’t pay to attend the Conference during the day and non-members do, and the dinner is only $199.— per ticket.  Book now so don’t you miss out!

On that note, I trust you all like our new website plus our new branding. This first part of our Year Of Distinction journey has taken some 10 months to launch and now we start the next two years of our undertaking to bring incredible opportunities and events to our members plus to further distinguish the FBAA as the only Peak Industry Body for Finance Brokers Nationally. The FBAA is “Changing the Game”.

And in line with this, during 2016 you will again see the FBAA Sponsoring Major Industry Events like the Better Business Summit (BBS), RE Awards, ABA Awards, AMA Awardsand the like, so to support you and the recognition of your contributions to our great industry. 

Have a great month and I look forward to seeing you shortly.

Best Regards, Peter 

Peter White CEO