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ARTICLE · 28 AUGUST 2019

Analysing ASIC vs Westpac – Is The Decision All That It Seems?

Much has been written about the Westpac responsible lending case. At risk of adding to the weight of those volumes

AustraliaFinance and Banking

Much has been written about the Westpac responsible lending case. At risk of adding to the weight of those volumes, we attempt to provide a practical analysis of whether the judgment really is the win that many lenders consider it to be.

But first, we do need to paraphrase a few statements from the judgment

At para 82: The policy of the statute is that unsuitable loans should not be made - ss 131 and 133. No purpose is served by prescribing how a credit provider goes about the assessment process. That is the problem of the credit provider. A credit provider may do what it wants in the assessment process. What it cannot do is make unsuitable loans. ASIC's argument creates a whole new range of implied rules which appear altogether unnecessary.

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