AFCA is consulting on two new draft approaches for key complaint areas in Banking and Finance and Small Business:
- AFCA’s Responsible Lending Approach – 31 July 2023 to 11 September 2023
- AFCA’s Appropriate Lending to Small Business Approach – 18 August 2023 to 29 September 2023
AFCA cares about the feedback and valuable insights of all stakeholders, and invites them to provide comments or make a submission during consultation.
About the consultation
The new draft approaches have been developed to provide greater clarity around what to expect from AFCA processes, greater transparency about the way we investigate complaints and make decisions, and ensure we continue to deliver consistent outcomes for complaints to AFCA.
The documents will help complainants, financial firms and stakeholders understand how AFCA considers complaints in the two key areas of Responsible Lending and Appropriate Lending to Small Business.
They outline how AFCA applies legal principles, industry codes, regulatory guidance and considers good industry practice when investigating these complaints. The documents are informed by feedback received during our complaint handling process with our stakeholders, including government, regulators, financial firms and consumer advocates.
Together, the new Responsible Lending and Appropriate Lending to Small Business Approaches will support complainants and financial firms to better understand how we consider these complaints, and assist in efficiently and effectively resolving and avoiding disputes.
AFCA’s Responsible Lending Approach consultation
The Responsible Lending Approach explains how we consider these complaints, including:
- how we assess a financial firm’s compliance with responsible lending obligations
- how we determine a fair outcome where a firm breaches its responsible lending obligations, and
- how we calculate loss and assess benefits to determine compensation.
AFCA’s Appropriate Lending to Small Business Approach consultation
The Appropriate Lending to Small Business Approach explains how we consider these complaints, including:
- the types of small business complaints we can consider under AFCA’s Rules
- how we assess if a financial firm’s credit assessment was appropriate
- how we consider industry codes, regulatory guidance and good industry practice in our decision making
- how we determine a fair outcome where a firm has provided an inappropriate loan, and
- how we calculate loss and determine how much compensation should be paid.
AFCA New Approaches Consultation - Webinar, Monday 4 September 2023
AFCA held a public webinar about its new approaches on Monday 4 September.
The webinar provided an overview of the two approaches, a summary of the key themes and focus areas and gave stakeholders the opportunity to ask questions.
If you could not attend or would like to watch the webinar again, you can watch a recording of the session here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to frequently asked questions about AFCA's new Responsible Lending and Appropriate Lending for Small Business approaches.
Contact us
If you have any questions about the proposed changes, or the consultation process, please email consultation@afca.org.au
