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By: Belinda Luc
More than 10,000 brokers, lenders and intermediaries have applied for an Australian Credit Licence, as they rush to meet the 18 June ‘early consideration’ deadline.
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ASIC senior executive leader - credit, Ged Fitzpatrick, told The Adviser that by eclipsing 10,000 with still almost a month before registration closes, showed the industry had truly embraced the move to regulation.
“We have had positive feedback from the credit industry about registration... Mainly because it is a straightforward process, “Mr Fitzpatrick said.
Mr Fitzpatrick said ASIC is urging people who are required to register but haven’t yet done so to register by the “early consideration” date of 18 June 2010 for peace of mind.
“By registering before 18 June 2010, ASIC can make a decision on the registration application by 30 June 2010,” he said.
ASIC’s latest milestone comes as no surprise to many, with The Adviser’s latest weekly strawpoll indicating that more than 75 per cent of brokers have already registered with the corporate regulator.
Of the 556 respondents, 11.5 per cent said they intend to register before the 30 June 2010 cut-off date and 12.6 per cent said they didn’t intend to register before deadline or at all.
The penalties for engaging in credit activities if not registered or licensed are significant, with fines of up to $200,000 and/or up to two years’ imprisonment.
And for those brokers who have registered or are intending to register, Mr Fitzpatrick said brokers should think about what will happen once they are registered, in light of the new responsible lending and compliance obligations.
“We want to encourage brokers to think about how they will run their business after 1 July 2010,” he said.
“It’s not just a case of continuing as before, brokers will need to consider how they will operate under the new regime.”
