Mortgage Business
RBA focused on lending, not house prices: Lowe By Malavika Santhebennur 08 February 2021
Governor Philip Lowe has said that the central bank will continue to focus on lending standards and hold discussions with regulators if they were to deteriorate.
Addressing the House of Representatives standing committee on economics on 5 February, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Philip Lowe has reiterated that the central bank would not focus on housing prices.
“As we have previously discussed at these hearings, the RBA does not – and should not – target housing prices,” Mr Lowe said.
“Instead, our focus is on the lending that is used to purchase housing. We want to see lending standards remain strong.”
The Treasurer has told The Adviser that government will delay finalising the proposed extension of the best interests duty until after Senate’s inquiry reports back in mid-March.
The report estimates that the economy will shrink by 0.6 percent in 2020, with tourism services, wholesale and retail trade, and manufacturing most seriously affected.
While economic growth in the Lao PDR contracted in 2020 for the first time in over two decades, the economy is set to recover in 2021 and in the medium.
Mortgage Business RLOs should be ‘tweaked, not removed’: Pepper CEO By Tony Zhang 29 December 2020
The move to scrap responsible lending will undo all the progress made by the industry and would be a drastic step, according to Pepper CEO Mario Rehayem.
The proposal to remove responsible lending obligations (RLOs) is set to play out in 2021.
Earlier this month, the bill relating to the RLO removal (as well as the introduction of new rules onto non-banks and the proposed extension of the best interests duty to more credit assistance providers) – the National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Supporting Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 – was introduced into Parliament.