Banking Services Alert

National Consumer Credit Protection Reform Package Introduced into Parliament

 

Today, the Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law, Chris Bowen MP, introduced the national consumer credit laws into Parliament.

 

The accompanying press release confirms that following consultation with industry the following changes to the legislation:

 

< Point-of-sale retailers - for example, car dealerships or retail outlets – will be exempt from the requirements that facilitate credit assistance to consumers. The Government will examine the issue of regulatory oversight within the next 12 months.

< The responsible lending conduct obligations will commence on 1 January 2011 to provide industry time to put in place the systems, arrangements and training needed to comply with these obligations.

< The requirement for credit providers to perform the credit assistance obligations when providing credit assistance in relation to their own proprietary credit products has been removed.

 

All these changes are welcomed, in particular the deferral of the responsible lending provisions.

 

The next critical stage, assuming the legislation is passed by Parliament, will be the release by ASIC of details as to how it intends to apply the legislation.