Australian Credit Licensing
Go straight through to our ACL products and services or find out about being a Credit Representative with QED Credit Services
On 15 December 2009 the National Consumer Credit Protection Act received Royal Assent, finally opening the path to the Federal regulator, Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), taking over the regulation of the provision of credit from the States.
From 1 January 2010, if you want to conduct credit activities in Australia, you must have been granted an Australian Credit Licence by ASIC.
QED Risk Services helped nearly 200 businesses gain their ACL in 2010.
If you want to have your own ACL, we think that’s the right decision and we have everything you need to assist you getting there. More than that, with the benefit of having successfully helped so many businesses with the process in 2010, QED Risk Services knows all the potential pitfalls involved in the application process.
Unlike AFS Licensing, it is not a requirement for applicants to supply ASIC with all their business policy documentation as evidence of compliance with license requirements. However, applicants should be mindful that:
- ASIC still has the right to ask you for the documents during the application stage
- Not having the associated processes in place at the time you apply will require you to “lie” on your application
- ASIC have hired over 200 staff nationally to actively enforce compliance
Even though ASIC has not been very good at proactive enforcement up until now, this recruitment marks a significant change in strategy. Licensees that are found to be in breach of the requirements or to have misrepresented themselves to ASIC will face stiff penalties.
The “General Conduct Obligations” include:
- arrangements for dealing with conflicts of interest
- arrangements for ensuring compliance with the legislation
- training and competence structures
- being a member of an external disputes resolution scheme and having an adequate internal disputes resolution scheme (a complaints policy)
- having adequate compensation arrangements
- having adequate resources to provide services, including HR, IT and financial resources
- having an adequate risk management system in place
Credit industry participants need to have the above elements embedded in their businesses prior to being a Licensee.
But the message QED Risk Services sends to all its clients is that, although these measures are being forced on the industry by ASIC, many of the requirements simply make good business sense and we urge all businesses to take this opportunity to add real value to their operations.
Australian Credit Licensing assistance
QED Risk Services can provide template policies that you can take and customise to your business; we can talk to you about your business and perform the customisation for you; or we can execute the complete implementation for you, train your staff in new procedures where necessary and provide methodology to ensure continuing compliance.
Similarly, lending network groups such as aggregators, choosing to allow brokers to be authorised as credit representatives of their licence will need to ensure all the above requirements are covered off right through their credit representative network. QED Risk Services can similarly assist with this process.
Call us today on 1300 817 662 to talk about how we can help you.
