Credit

Credit legislation has been evolving since the National Consumer Credit Protection Act or NCCP was introduced in 2009. Our team of lawyers have helped consumer credit providers, commercial credit providers, premium funders, Buy-Now/Pay-Later providers, mortgage and finance brokers, lessors of goods, aggregators and many more.

Whether it’s drafting credit contracts, hardship policies or consumer leases, developing a responsible lending compliant credit policy, reviewing compliance with AML/CTF requirements or the particular privacy issues for credit businesses, we can help.

• Applying for an ACL and appointing Responsible Managers
• Product development and structuring
• Disclosure documents – Credit Guides, credit quotes and proposals
• Design and Distribution regime - target market determination and distributor agreements
• Reviewing websites and other marketing and promotional material
• Appointing credit representatives and referrers
• Monitoring and supervision systems and processes
• AML/CTF compliance - AUSTRAC registration, AML/CTF program and policies
• Privacy policies, privacy collection statements and privacy issues
• Breach management and reporting
• ASIC liaison, investigations and enforceable undertakings
• Corporate structuring, shareholders and partnership agreements
• Sales and acquisitions
• Joint ventures and strategic alliances
• Management and employee participation
• Drafting and negotiating contracts

• Buy Now Pay Later continues to be a growing industry. Buy Now Pay Later products are currently regulated in a number of ways despite commonly not being characterised as ‘consumer credit’ under the National Credit Code. A key question is whether it will be subject to greater regulation in the future.

• Responsible Lending is an area where we have seen much focus from ASIC. ASIC recently released new guidance and examples of their views on responsible lending reflecting the final outcome in the High Court Westpac case. If you haven’t already, now is a good time to look at your practices in this area.

• Fairness continues to be one of 2021's hottest regulatory catchwords. It was a major focus in the Hayne Royal Commission and we expect ASIC will be looking more at whether licence holders meet this obligation. Fairness is also a benchmark used by AFCA when it considers complaints, with it not being enough that you’ve complied with the letter of the law.

• Mortgage Broker Best Interests Duty – The government proposes to introduce a duty on mortgage brokers to act in the best interests of customers. There are also conflicted remuneration prohibitions being proposed. How to comply with this and how to prove you have will be the key questions.

• Design and Distribution Obligations – The new product governance regime starts on 5 October 2021 and is applicable to many financial and credit product issuers and distributors. The regime introduces new disclosure documents, target market determinations and product governance framework.

Are you sure that your managers have enough knowledge of the NCCP requirements to keep you on the right side of the regulator?

These sessions are for Responsible Managers, compliance managers and indeed any senior manager of a credit business.

It takes a full day, but includes lots of interactive activities to keep you on your toes.

It covers the following areas:

• The Role and Responsibilities of Responsible Managers – what it means to be a Responsible Manager, the qualifications and experience required, responsibilities and overall liabilities involved.
• Regulation in the Credit industry – who are the regulators and what do they do.
• Providing Credit Services – what is a financial or credit service and what compliance and disclosure obligations apply.
• ACL Obligations – an in-depth view of all the regulatory requirements that apply to financial services and credit businesses.

Contact us for more information or to design or book a training session.