A new public data regime has been proposed for Australian brokers, aggregators and lenders to promote transparency and better customer outcomes
by Miklos Bolza
In Australia, a new public data regime involving brokers, aggregators and lenders has been proposed by the Combined Industry Forum (CIF) to promote transparency around competition and promote better consumer outcomes.
The regime comes amongst six principles found in a paper submitted to Treasury in response to the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) broker remuneration review and the Sedgwick recommendations.
“[This] is really about using disclosure transparency to produce better informed decisions,” Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) chief executive Mike Felton said.
“The main area about that is lender coverage and breadth of choice. That was something that was brought up in the ASIC report where ASIC found that over 80% of business that a broker does is done with four lenders.”
The reporting regime will align closely with what ASIC asked for in its remuneration report and will see individual brokers publicly disclose the following key figures to consumers:A list of lenders available to the customer via the broker’s aggregator
“That means calculating this once a year at the end of the financial year and using that data for a full 12 months but also making it available to consumers,” Felton said.
The CIF’s public reporting regime also involves aggregators and lenders who will provide ASIC with crucial lending statistics.
Aggregators will need to supply a list of all lenders on their panel and the percentage share of business written with each during the previous financial year. They will also need to supply the following information on their registered brokers:
The CIF’s public reporting regime is set to be implemented by the end of 2018.
Related stories:
What brokers want in 2018?
Body calls brokers to join advisory committees
In Australia, a new public data regime involving brokers, aggregators and lenders has been proposed by the Combined Industry Forum (CIF) to promote transparency around competition and promote better consumer outcomes.
The regime comes amongst six principles found in a paper submitted to Treasury in response to the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) broker remuneration review and the Sedgwick recommendations.
“[This] is really about using disclosure transparency to produce better informed decisions,” Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) chief executive Mike Felton said.
“The main area about that is lender coverage and breadth of choice. That was something that was brought up in the ASIC report where ASIC found that over 80% of business that a broker does is done with four lenders.”
The reporting regime will align closely with what ASIC asked for in its remuneration report and will see individual brokers publicly disclose the following key figures to consumers:A list of lenders available to the customer via the broker’s aggregator
- The number of lenders used by the broker in the previous financial year
- The top six lenders and the percentage of business written to those lenders in the previous financial year
“That means calculating this once a year at the end of the financial year and using that data for a full 12 months but also making it available to consumers,” Felton said.
The CIF’s public reporting regime also involves aggregators and lenders who will provide ASIC with crucial lending statistics.
Aggregators will need to supply a list of all lenders on their panel and the percentage share of business written with each during the previous financial year. They will also need to supply the following information on their registered brokers:
- The percentage of brokers using three lenders or less
- The percentage of brokers using between four and seven lenders
- The percentage of brokers using eight or more lenders
- Finally, aggregators will also need to supply the weighted average commission rate percentage earned in the previous financial year for residential lending.
The CIF’s public reporting regime is set to be implemented by the end of 2018.
Related stories:
What brokers want in 2018?
Body calls brokers to join advisory committees
