A decision handed down in favour of a bank in action brought by a financial regulator may mean banks well be willing to lend more than previously
(ps that's my take)
Westpac won a case brought by corporate regulator ASIC (hard to resist calling it 'the hapless ASIC' … dropping the ball quite often they are … ask any ripped off forex traders who placed their trust in AISC regulation if you'd like further elaboration).
At the heart of this case was a battle between a lender's discretion to decide the suitability of a loan and a regulator's ability to impose prescriptive formulae on how a loan's suitability should be assessed.
I won't go into the details, but if you'd like more, and it is worth a read, check the link out:
- From the banks' perspective getting some clarity on responsible lending should enable them to breathe easier and be less fearful that their methods of assessing expenses will land them in legal hot water.It should improve their flexibility to lend within the law. But whether this leads to any loosening of the credit strings remains to be seen.
The "Something must be done!" brigade will have to find something else now
