Q. What would you like the new Financial Services Minister to prioritise?

Focus on buffers and clawbacks

There is no doubt that the ability to own a home and secure a mortgage played a significant role in the decisions of Australians at the election.

We have provided the government with a way to make a huge difference in the lives of hundreds of thousands of borrowers, at no cost to taxpayers: lowering buffers.

The minister, of course, will have access to the data that the FBAA has provided across areas like clawbacks, buffer rates, and many other important issues.

This is just one of the issues that we will be discussing with Dr Mulino and other senior ministers that will focus on the best outcome for borrowers and our industry.

Fair CSLR, prioritise CDR, and housing promises

We look forward to continuing to engage with Dr Mulino in his capacity as the new Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services. The MFAA would also like to see an immediate focus on:

• Ensuring the Consumer Data Right remains a core policy priority.

• A commitment to ensuring industry funding for the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort is “fair and proportionate”.

• Competition in the home loan sector continues, including “prioritising a better and more efficient home loan discharge process” and implementing election housing commitments, including the expansion of the Home Guarantee Scheme and Help to Buy Scheme.

• Prioritising policies that continue to support and enhance access to credit for small businesses.

Improving financial literacy and access to advice

Over the next decade, more than 2.5 million Australians are expected to transition into retirement. That number is set to rise to nearly one in four Australians in less than 40 years. While superannuation balances and household wealth have grown, too many Australians still struggle to navigate an overly complex retirement system.

We look forward to working with the new minister to continue to implement targeted and well-considered reform, particularly by improving financial literacy and access to advice, simplifying the retirement system, and encouraging innovation in retirement products and services.

Better rules for mutual banks

We urge the incoming government to prioritise policies that boost competition:

• A tiered regulatory approach, aligned with a bank’s risk profile and governance structure (“easing the undue burden placed on customer-owned banks”).

• Reform of capital requirements for standardised banks to create a more equitable system (given customer-owned banks must hold more capital than major banks for comparable loans).

• Leveraging the government balance sheet to address customer-owned banks’ funding disadvantage (as mutuals cannot meet the ‘too big to fail’ status provided to majors by credit ratings agencies).

• A more streamlined and efficient merger process for customer-owned banks.