Login
ISCOVER
As well as helping brokers with compliance, aggregators should be helping “shape” legislators’ views on how new laws apply for brokers, the executive chairman of Loan Market Group has said.
Speaking on Thursday (26 August) at the Loan Market Group Regulation Changes webinar, Sam White, the executive chairman of the Loan Market Group (comprising Loan Market, PLAN Australia, Choice and FAST) outlined his position on what he believes the role of the aggregator is in the compliance environment.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
Addressing the 1,500 brokers tuning in to the webinar, Mr White acknowledged that while this “tumultuous period” of increasing regulatory change amid a COVID environment was a “stressful time”, he added that the broking industry had pulled together in the years since the banking royal commission to adapt to change and help showcase its value to borrowers.
Noting the recent moves by Treasury to amend the Consumer Data Right (CDR) so that consumers can share their data with “trusted professional advisers”, including mortgage brokers, Mr White said: “I think that’s a great recognition of the quality of work that brokers have done, not least of which through the pandemic… and recognition of how far we’ve come as industry in the last couple of years”.
He continued: “I just wanted to confirm, also, how I see our role as an aggregator when it comes to compliance. So, I think the first thing that we should be doing is getting involved in influencing and helping legislators and regulators in shaping their view on regulation, making sure that it’s going to help customers, pointing out if we see any concerns or anything unworkable and for us to try and get in in the early stages and work constructively with those that are drafting legislation to do that.
“Sometimes we have an impact, sometimes we don’t, but the industry bodies, obviously the MFAA and FBAA, and other aggregators, are keen to be part of that process.”
Mr White added that the second role was to “try and create some rules and some structure and some processes” around the regulations, which are often principles-based and “nebulous”.
“I think our job is to try and… take out that murkiness and give it some shape,” he told viewers.
Finally, the executive chairman said the third role of an aggregator was to “help [brokers] do it right” when discharging their obligations.
“Rather than catching you doing something wrong, it’s about how do we help take brokers through a journey, business owners through a journey, to make sure this is workable and doable.”
The chairman said he was “thrilled” with how the “expanded” compliance team had been approaching its role since the Choice, FAST, PLAN acquisition.
“When we did this acquisition back in March, one of the things I was excited about was getting scale. I think you’ll see today (or, what I’ve seen anyway), is that there is great talent across the group in all sorts of areas, but not least of which is in our compliance area. They’ve come together from all sorts of different backgrounds, in different parts of the merged company, and it’s great to see them working so well, all together.”
Following Mr White’s update, the compliance team at Loan Market Group, led by David McQueen, chief regulation and compliance officer, ran through the swathe of new financial services laws coming into effect from October, and how they apply to brokers.
The reforms aim to provide consumers with long-term protection from the harms highlighted by the royal commission, and close regulatory gaps that previously existed.
They will also provide ASIC with greater visibility of issues in the marketplace, which it said it hopes would enable it to identify problems earlier and address them more quickly.
The broking associations have been busy working with Treasury on the incoming arrangements and their impacts on the broker channel, with MFAA CEO Mike Felton recently outlining his conversations with Treasury and ASIC on some of the unintended consequences of the incoming laws.
The Treasury announced earlier this month that it would be amending the design and distribution obligation legislation to reflect, which has been welcomed by the MFAA.
[Related: Calls for aggregator inclusion in new CDR]
JOIN THE DISCUSSION