Login
ISCOVER
Brokers are adamant the industry does not need more regulation, despite another broker losing his credit licence.
ASIC announced yesterday that Melbourne broker Parmjit Singh had agreed to cancel his Australian credit licence after failing to verify documents in support of about 40 loan applications. Mr Singh declined to comment when contacted by The Adviser.
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.
Last month, the regulator also handed down three-year bans to two brokers
Oxygen Home Loans general manager Alan Hemmings said it was important not to overreact because only a small percentage of brokers were breaking the rules.
“We’re probably more heavily regulated than most other industries. In any industry you’re always going to have an element of people who don’t do the right thing,” he said.
Mr Hemmings said ASIC, aggregators and broker groups needed to keep an eye on brokers to make sure they act appropriately.
I Lend Finance Solutions director Anish Prasad said the industry needed eternal vigilance rather than extra regulation.
“I think too much regulation would push brokers out of the industry,” he told The Adviser.
“I think it’s already regulated enough. There are enough things that we need to do. I think it just comes down to the individual broker and their ethics. How much regulation can you have?”
Director of All About Financial Services John Martin called on aggregators to take more responsibility for their brokers, although he acknowledged it was difficult to monitor the volume of transactions that they handle.
“In any industry, you’re always going to have your rogues who just won’t conform,” he said.
“I think that the regulations that have been put into place are significant as long as [brokers are] policed correctly.”
Select Loan Centre director Charanjit Singh said the problem of rogue brokers was a difficult one to solve, but that more regulation was not the answer.
Mr Singh said there was “already too much regulation” – and that other industries needed to be regulated as heavily as mortgage broking in the interests of fairness.
MFAA chief executive Phil Naylor also spoke out against introducing further regulations to deal with the “minute percentage” of brokers who act unethically.
“There will always be people in society who do the wrong thing – it doesn’t matter how many laws you have,” he told The Adviser.
“The fact we’re getting brokers being banned indicates that the regulations are working. I would be much more concerned if the evidence was showing that no one was being banned.”
