The government has pledged to increase resources to the banking regulators... Investor lending rises as LVRs fall...
Funding boost for bank regulators: Turnbull
The government has pledged to increase resources to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Treasurer Scott Morrison seek 'to ease internal pressure to support Labor's call for a royal commission into banks and counter its broader popularity among voters', the Australian Financial Review reports.
The opposition hit back pointing out the Abbott government cut $120 million over years in funding to ASIC in its first budget.
"Of course there are issues that need to be addressed in the banking and financial industry. That's why we initiated the financial systems inquiry. That's why we're acting on its recommendations," Morrison said.
"We'll continue to work with ASIC and APRA and the other players that are involved in these issues to ensure that Australians can have confidence about the integrity of how they do business with banks."
The government would also "continue to work with the banks who have to deal with the culture issues that exist", he said.
Turnbull said, "If ASIC needs to do more then it's up to Greg Medcraft to identify where he needs more resources."
Investor lending rises as LVRs fall
Demand for fixed rate home loans has peaked, according to ASX-listed aggregator AFG, with this product accounting for almost one in five loans.
Fixed rate home loans peaked at 17.7% of AFG’s total volume for the first quarter of the 2016 calendar year. By comparison, the percentage of those fixing their rates in the first quarter of the 2016 financial year was as low as 11.4%.
According to AFG’s general manager sales and operations, Mark Hewitt, consumers are wary of out-of-cycle rate hikes by the banks.
“With sections of the money market making the call of a rate cut in the coming months there are some very attractive fixed rates available. With rates being at historical lows the downside risk of fixing is relatively small so many borrowers are choosing to lock in now.
“We got rid of all the paperwork,” Di Conza says. “We used to have a system where everyone got invoiced for services. [Now], we’ve got a process and a system that every advisor has to adhere to. What that led to was a massive increase in efficiency for our back-office team; they went from being able to process $50m a year to $100m.”
Daniel Di Conza, Acceptance Finance, Top 10 Independent Brokerages 2015
