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Representatives from banks, non-banks, originators and the broker channel attended an information seminar hosted by Gadens Lawyers in Sydney yesterday in a bid to understand and discuss phase one of the draft National Consumer Credit Protection Bill 2009, released 27 April.
Gerald Foley, managing director of National Mortgage Brokers, said the evening served as an important opportunity “to get across the proposed legislation”.
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He said that several positives would come out of the proposed new laws but expressed some concern that the legislation appeared rushed in parts and lacking detail.
“It is a significant piece of legislation and overall there is still a lot of finer details that need to be determined, such as the process of applying for a license.”
Jon Denovan, chief operating officer of Gadens in Sydney, expressed similar concern about the licensing.
Mr Denovan said the MFAA had been assured the new license would not be as difficult to obtain as an AFSL yet the legislation appeared to have been copied and pasted from the AFSL legislation.
“How can one piece of legislation be interpreted in two different ways?” he asked.
Mr Denovan said if the new licenses were as difficult to obtain as the AFSL – which can cost thousands and require lawyer involvement – this would prove extremely difficult for one-man-band brokers.
“Brokers will need to be members of aggregation groups,” he said.
The industry can provide comment on the draft legislation to the treasury by Friday 22 May.
