ACCC sees benefit in mortgage and finance body's disciplinary rules

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission proposes to grant conditional authorisation to the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia to enable it to continue to use its disciplinary rules, ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said today.

Authorisation provides immunity from court action for conduct that might otherwise raise concerns under the competition provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974.  Broadly, the ACCC may grant an authorisation when it is satisfied that the public benefit from the conduct outweighs any public detriment.

The rules form part of the MFAA's governance regime which requires members to comply with its Code of Practice and Constitution. The rules provide for the investigation of complaints against members and for penalties to be imposed if a member is found to have engaged in misconduct or acted in breach of the code.

"The governance regime sets a professional and ethical standard of conduct in the mortgage and broking industry. The ACCC considers that the rules provide a means for enforcing this standard, particularly through the provisions relating to the investigating officer's powers to investigate complaints, and the range of sanctions which the MFAA Tribunal may impose. 

"The ACCC considers that these measures act as a significant deterrent for MFAA members to act inappropriately."

The MFAA has approximately 13,000 members Australia-wide.

The ACCC proposes a condition on the authorisation that the MFAA delete a rule which provides the MFAA's board with the ability to impose sanctions on a member regardless of any other action being taken by the MFAA Tribunal or at law. The ACCC considers this rule undermines the role of the MFAA Tribunal.

The draft determination will be available from the ACCC website, follow the Public registers and Authorisations and notifications registers links.

The ACCC seeks submissions from interested parties in relation to the draft determination before making its final decision. Submissions should be received by 15 May 2009. Information about making a submission is available from the ACCC website.