Select Committee on Lending to Primary Production Customers

29/05/2017

On 16 February 2017 the Senate established the Select Committee on Lending to Primary Production Customers to inquire and report on the regulation and practices of financial institutions in relation to primary production industries, including agriculture, fisheries and forestry.

ARITA has made a submission to the Committee in relation to its terms of reference which apply to customers experiencing financial distress, specifically paragraphs a. and b. of the terms of reference, as reproduced below.

a. The lending, and foreclosure and default practices, including constructive and nonmonetary default processes, and

b. The roles of other service providers to, and agent of, financial institutions, including valuers and insolvency practitioners, and the impact of these services.

Our submission addresses the remaining terms of reference focused on the conduct of lenders to the extent that ARITA can comment on them.

In addition to the specific matters raised in ARITA’s submission, we also commended to the Committee our submissions to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services inquiry into the Impairment of Customer Loans and the Senate Economics References Committee Inquiry into the post-GFC banking sector.

The closing date for submissions is 16 June 2017 (extended from 8 May 2017) and the committee is to inquire and report by 18 October 2017.

Terms of Reference: Select Committee on Lending to Primary Production Customers

ARITA Submission: Select Committee on Lending to Primary Production Customers