The Car Finance Circus Rolls On

If there’s one thing Australians love more than complaining about used-car hellscapes, it’s regulators finally noticing them. ASIC’s latest review of the motor vehicle finance sector reads like a greatest hits of everything that has gone wrong with car loans: reckless intermediaries, wildly inconsistent fees, and people still owing a scary chunk of money after repo.

ASIC found establishment fees as high as $9,000 on a $49,000 loan, and almost half of borrowers defaulting within six months — which, in normal-people language, means a lot of folks are in deals they probably shouldn’t have been in. The regulator has started firing off tailored action letters to lenders like Nissan Finance, Latitude, and Toyota Finance, and will publish detailed findings in 2026. If anything screams systemic consumer harm, it’s “pay thousands up front then likely default and still owe half the loan.” Hardly the stuff of a stable credit market.

ASIC’s emphasis, predictably, falls on intermediary oversight and governance — fancy words for “lenders really weren’t checking what their brokers were doing.” The recommended fixes are stuff you’d expect in a compliance manual: better training, more robust risk frameworks, and stronger governance. Meanwhile, consumers continue to bleed on finance that was neither affordable nor transparent. ASIC’s next move will be enforcement where appropriate — which sounds ominous until you realise “enforcement” sometimes means a quiet settlement or a slap on the wrist.

Short link: https://asic.gov.au/3Dd4g3t

SMEs: Still Cautious, Still Borrowing Less

Business confidence surveys have been on a tear lately — headline figures, that is. Larger businesses are cheerfully optimistic, painting rosy pictures of economic stability. But scratch beneath the surface and the SME borrowing picture looks like a vintage Sydney apartment: cracks, gaps, and a worrying tilt.

Banjo Loans’ latest Barometer shows SME borrowing fell 5% in the last quarter, even after a brief September bump. Meanwhile, applications dropped about 15% from the prior quarter, and smaller businesses are hesitating, reassessing, and sometimes preferring to self-fund rather than lock in a loan. Cue images of accountants gently suggesting that maybe — just maybe — new debt in an uncertain rate environment isn’t the best business decision.

Some sectors are bleeding talent: manufacturing borrowing plunged by 38%, transport by nearly 40%, and wholesale trade by 15%. NSW and Victoria — usually the great locomotive of lending — were merely “stable but subdued.” And as banks get pickier about who they lend to, lots of SMEs are stuck in the limbo between conditional approvals and indecision. In economic terms that’s called “dead money.” In everyday terms, it’s cautious businesses refusing to leap into another rate face-plant.

Short link: https://brokernews.com.au/3Fhj3cY

Disaster Banking: CBA’s Queensland Lifeline

When severe weather hits Queensland, Commonwealth Bank rolls out Emergency Assistance — which sounds heroic until you remember it’s basically an ad for waivers and temporary loan tweaks. Yes, there are fee waivers, customised payment arrangements, and even temporary overdrafts if you ask nicely. But there’s no broad interest relief, no blanket deferrals — just the usual “contact your relationship manager” routine that leaves many SMEs feeling like they’re playing a game of telephone at the worst possible time.

CommBank’s list includes everything from waiving certain fees to assisting with Hollard-distributed home insurance claims. But for a bank that posted billions in profit last year, you’d be forgiven for expecting something a little more muscular than “speak to us in the app.” As always, the fine print applies, credit approval still matters, and if you’re hoping for a bailout, be prepared to jump through more hoops than a ringmaster at a finance circus.

Short link: https://commbank.com.au/3XIz7tG

Major Banks’ Lending Tightening: ANZ Joins the Party

The big banks are now proudly dangling the carrot of stricter lending policies like they’re doing you a favour. ANZ is the latest to impose tight criteria on trust and company home loans — complete with personal guarantees, ownership thresholds, and a cheeky 70% loan-to-value cap.

This isn’t altruism. It’s risk management 101 on steroids following APRA’s warnings about high debt-to-income lending risk. Macquarie already banned trust lending in 2025, CBA tightened policy in November, and now ANZ has joined the bandwagon, requiring directors to own at least 25% and forcing stricter account history checks. In mortgage broking circles, this is being called a “more sustainable approach” — in layman’s terms, it’s banks deciding they’d rather not underwrite the next property crash.

Directors with thin equity and companies that borrowed to chase tax or yield may now find themselves on the wrong side of the policy. The real punchline? These changes aren’t reversing any fundamental price-to-income imbalances – they’re just shifting risk from banks back onto borrowers and guarantors who thought clever structuring was a pathway to wealth.

Short link: https://mpamag.com/3JCq7Lg

Payday Super: Cashflow Crunch Incoming

If you thought quarterly super payments were annoying, brace yourself: Payday Super is about to punch a hole in small business cashflow that even accountants will feel. Gone are the “unofficial cash buffers” of quarterly super; from 1 July 2026, employers must pay super at each pay run — which accountants describe as a liquidity mismatch nightmare.

Payroll specialists warn that working capital will be strained — especially for businesses with customers who pay slow. It’s being dubbed “the great cashflow compression of 2026.” And that’s before you add late payments, thin margins, or that one client who always pays 90 days late.

For SMEs, this isn’t merely an administrative tweak — it’s an operational shift with real cost implications. Firms that haven’t built larger cash buffers or secured flexible financing might need to have some very frank conversations with their banks and accountants soon.

Short link: https://hcamag.com/3YPx9sQ

Broker Growth or Broker Bubble? Aussie’s ‘Amplify’

In the world of brokers, Aussie’s new Amplify program sounds like the latest shiny incentive meant to accelerate growth. Pathways to ownership, multi-site expansion and mentoring are all on the table — which, if you like the idea of brokers running their own show, sounds great. Aussie notes that brokers still handle over 77% of new residential home loans, albeit slightly down from the prior quarter, and Amplify aims to get more brokers into ownership fast.

Critics might call it broker-oriented spin, but in a market with tighter bank lending and cautious SME appetite, anything that greases the wheels for mortgage professionals is bound to get attention. Aussie’s internal case studies about rapid store growth and commission incentives reinforce that this is as much about capturing market share as it is about supporting “growth.” Whether this translates to better outcomes for borrowers — rather than just fatter broker books — remains to be seen.

Short link: https://brokernews.com.au/3M3x7KD

Open Banking’s Momentum

Remember when open banking was the future? Well, it’s still the future — and FinTech Australia’s cheerleading for the Productivity Commission’s call for universal open banking is the reminder no one else seems to want. Their argument is blunt: carve-outs for small banks fragment competition, disadvantage consumers, and undermine the original vision of seamless data flow.

The productivity report suggests that a fully universal Consumer Data Right (CDR) regime could theoretically boost GDP by up to $10 billion per year — a figure that sounds massive until you realise it’s aspirational and contingent on implementation that hasn’t happened yet. FinTech Australia also wants paperwork and “wet signature” relics sent to the history books — a welcome push if you’ve ever tried to upload documents to a bank portal at 11 pm.

Open banking’s promise is clear: easier switching, more competition, and smarter credit decisions. Whether entrenched banks see it as a threat or a compliance checkbox remains the central battle in this ongoing saga.

Short link: https://thefintechtimes.com/3YdL8Gs

Green Finance: Discounted Loans for Home Energy Upgrades

In Canberra’s latest charm offensive at the intersection of climate policy and consumer finance, the government has kicked another $40 million into the Household Energy Upgrades Fund through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC). The idea is simple: cheaper green loans for solar, batteries, insulation and EV chargers — loans capped between $2,000 and $55,000 at introductory rates around 6.99%.

This isn’t charity — it’s a classic “crowd in private capital” move where the CEFC backs private lender Brighte to roll out up to $150 million in consumer energy finance. It’s the sixth such HEUF investment, pushing total commitments past $400 million. For households savvy enough to navigate eligibility and willing to retrofit their place, this could shave bills. But financiers and vendors will happily remind you that access isn’t the same as uptake — and cheaper finance doesn’t mean cheap upgrades.

This effort underscores how energy policy is increasingly financed, not subsidised. The government’s message is: decarbonise your home at near-market lending rates, and Canberra will make it a bit less painful. Whether this kicks off mass electrification or just creates another lending niche is up to borrowers — and their bank managers.

Short link: https://dcceew.gov.au/3ZbT6dF