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ISCOVER
Staff Reporter
The industry watchdog ASIC has announced its plans to change the training requirements for mortgage brokers.
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Earlier today, ASIC proposed a series of changes to the training requirements undertaken by credit representatives.
ASIC believes the proposals strike an appropriate balance between the interests of confident and informed financial consumers and the regulatory obligations of market participants.
“Home loans are the largest loan most consumers will take on, and poorly informed assistance leading to poor decisions about mortgages could potentially jeopardise ownership of the family home,” ASIC commissioner Peter Boxall said.
“The proposals aim to reduce licensees’ compliance burden, while still ensuring a high standard of training for those who do play a significant role in such decisions.”
Consultation Paper 165 Credit assistance for home loans: Competence and training requirements outlines proposed modifications of the training requirements for credit representatives who provide mortgage broking services, as currently set out in Regulatory Guide 206 Credit licensing: Competence and training.
According to ASIC, as the definition of ‘mortgage broking services’ is broad, in practice it may capture a wide range of representatives, some of whom may have no involvement in or influence over consumers’ decision making on the amount, type or source of a loan.
There is concern that training a significant number of such representatives to the Certificate IV level might represent a compliance burden for some parts of industry, which could outweigh the regulatory benefit of this requirement.
“Our proposed changes to the training requirements should enable representatives of credit providers who are providing mortgage broking services to focus on units of training most relevant to their roles,” Dr Boxall said.
