ASIC’s Published Review of Mortgage Brokers
March 22, 2017| You may have seen recently in the media, ASIC has recently concluded its review of mortgage broker remuneration on behalf of the federal government. As we have communicated previously, Nexus Partners have been actively involved with the review and have had a number of very positive discussions with ASIC about the mortgage referral industry. As we anticipated, much of the review’s findings have been centred around mortgage broking specifically, as opposed to mortgage referrers.
The review has now been handed to the federal government and the broader finance industry has 3 months to formally respond and make submissions. In that time we will continue to work closely with the lenders on our panel to ensure that a balanced response is provided which is reflective of the role you play in merely referring clients directly to lenders for finance. In summary, the key proposals by ASIC are: 1 Improving the standard commission model 2. Moving away from bonus commissions and bonus payments – It should be noted that the banks don’t provide bonus payments to referral aggregators or mortgage referrers 3. Moving away from soft dollar benefits – such as lenders funding overseas conferences 4. Clearer disclosure of ownership structures – such as vertically integrated broker aggregator/bank ownership relationships 5. Implement a new public reporting regime – to assist in providing consumers with greater transparency on a range of factors 6. Governance and oversight – to reduce the risk that remuneration structures may result in poor consumer outcomes and inhibit competition If you would like any further information please don’t hesitate to contact your Nexus Partners Relationship Manager directly, or you can email me at scott@nexuspartners.com.au. |
| Scott Harty
National Head of Sales and Operations |