FBAA rejects AIPB open discussion
By
Larry Schlesinger
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15/12/2009 10:00:00 AM
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12
comments
The FBAA has rejected calls by the Australian Institute of Professional Brokers (AIPB) for an open discussion on unfair and unethical lender practices affecting brokers.
The AIPB wrote to the FBAA, MFAA and ABA on 4 December requested participation in an open industry forum to discuss the practices of some of their members.
While the MFAA and ABA are yet to respond, the FBAA has told Rigoni it is only willing to discuss matters involving some of its members via confidential disclosure through its internal dispute resolution committee.
Rigoni rejected the suggestion and said the AIPB did not support "secretive" strategies or agendas or in house investigations about things the FBAA should already have plenty of evidence about if they are in the broker space and should have acted on many moons ago".
She accused the "self proclaimed peak industry 'finance broker' bodies' of demonstrating "no genuine interest in the hard working individual independent finance broker otherwise they would not accept lender member behaviours towards the very professional and experienced finance brokers working hard every day of the week to satisfy their clients credit needs".
Rigoni will follow up with the MFAA and ABA later this week, but said she was not surprised at the lack of response to date.
Related stories:
AIPB seeking forum on unethical lender practices - The Australian Institute of Professional Brokers (AIPB) is looking to hold an "open industry discussion" to address what it calls unfair and unethical practices affecting brokers.
Latest Comments
Total:
12
comment(s)
SteveL on
15 Dec 2009 11:21 AM
You go girl! Good work Maria. At least someone is trying to look after the brokers. Seems the FBAA has been caught short? Not interested in helping brokers? WHY DO YOU EXISTS THEN?
Concerned Broker on
15 Dec 2009 12:22 PM
Perhaps the FBAA should just merge with the MFAA, both of which appear to be of ZERO benefit to a Finance Broker, as they both appear to concentrate on issues that are of no concern or importance to the majority of Brokers.
AIPB is the only organisation that echoes Brokers concerns, but I get the impression that they will struggle to get any real beneficial results for us Brokers, as nobody that matters is prepared to give them the time of day.
The majors ( especially Westpac & CBA) will just continue to Sh#* on us all, and the rest such as ING, Suncorp, AMP, Heritage etc will just follow whatever it is they come up with next. You can expect more Broker discrimination, with more products, pricing and policies being introduced or withdrawn to make our job even more challenging than it is today.
It is clear the majors only objective is to drive as many Brokers out of the industry as possible and to achieve this as quickly as possible, as they continue to cry poor whilst making fatter margins on residential loans than I can ever recall.
Our industry has been on life support for the past 18 months, and the sooner they can pull the plug, they will, and then they will blame us (with a straight face) for tripping over the cord!
Best of luck AIPB, you are going to need tons of it.
Cornelius on
15 Dec 2009 04:38 PM
Surprise Surprise
Peter White on
16 Dec 2009 10:34 AM
People I suggest before you post uninformed comments you actually understand what has been posed and how it was posed which is not what you are seeing. Before you criticize get your facts right to start with.
Concerned Broker on
16 Dec 2009 01:01 PM
All well and good Mr White, just stay in the blue "heavyweight" corner with the MFAA and the majors, and us voiceless Brokers will stay in the red "featherweight" corner all alone, as we always have, just waiting to be sat upon once again.
Broker for 30 years on
16 Dec 2009 01:04 PM
Another USELESS organisation is talking for and on behalf of the banks and not the Brokers-Loan writers. I believe both the MFAA and FBAA are just money milking, make believe institutions with ZERO benefit to any Finance Broker.
Peter White on
16 Dec 2009 02:01 PM
Folks I rarely comment in such forums as people use them as platforms to hide behind on far to many occasions, but the person acting under the disguise of "Concerned Broker" - why isn''t your real name used for these comments or is it because that they are unfounded and baseless. The FBAA has been vocal on banking actions all of the year and historically therefore your comments are simply incorrect. And the other faceless comment by "Broker for 30 years" as no idea of what you are talking about - I am into my 31st year in this industry and if you knew what your were talking about you would know the FBAA has never spoken on behalf of banks and as a not-for-profit organization, as is the FBAA, any retained earnings are routed back into the benefits of members with all the Association''s Executives inclusive of the Board (ie myself as well) are not on the payroll and volunteer our time and efforts for the betterment of our industry - what are you doing besides hiding behind faceless blogs, I suggest you do something positive for our industry. Enjoy your Christmas and have a safe New Years - Peter White - FBAA
Dave on
16 Dec 2009 03:02 PM
Peter your comment People I suggest before you post uninformed comments you actually understand what has been posed and how it was posed which is not what you are seeing. Would you care to expand? Perhaps provide further information so that we all get a clear understanding of the situation. Has this information been passed onto your members along with your reply? I am sure it has even if just for the interests of transparency but confirmation would be good. Obviously a lot of the information, not only in forums like this but also to the press, is done in a certain way to get a certain reaction however if everything is transparent then we can all read it and draw our own conclusions. Thanks for your input Peter and I hope to get some clarification in relation to the above.
Peter White on
16 Dec 2009 03:26 PM
Hi Dave, certainly but this is my last say on this as it will be in the press as well. Basically the FBAA was written to by AIPB with a complaint against some FBAA members - no lenders ever mentioned - just serious allegations about some of our FBAA our members. This being the case and given our Code of Conduct, this must and can only be reviewed by our IDR which we advised them and asked them to supply the IDR Committee with the names and specific allegations so they can be properly and appropriately investigated. Please be aware that the FBAA was written to on the basis of serious allegations and complaints against some of our members ... not specific to any lenders. Holding such investigations based on currently unfounded allegations to our Members would breach various laws and would be corporately irresponsible and reckless to conduct such a meeting based on what we were written to on. Now we/FBAA find out after the event they are really taking a swing at Lenders and not specifically some FBAA Members - my view this is a deceptive means to get some press which otherwise would not be afforded to them - sorry to be brash but it is that simple and personally I don''t have time for such antics. Go about it the right way is a different matter again - Peter White FBAA
Still Concerned Broker.... on
16 Dec 2009 03:59 PM
The FBAA has been vocal on banking actions (and the beneficial results to the average Broker is what???)
My point is that WHY do Brokers like myself(as mandated by our aggregator) pay FBAA & MFAA annual fees , after (only)8 years as a full-time broker I still can''t see any benefit whatsoever, and quite franky I never have.
Can you tell me, how these two organisations add any value whatsoever to us Brokers?
What exactly do we get for our hard earned cash?
Happy for you to email your response to this blog and copy tp damien12393@yahoo.com, and then I will happily identify myself.
A different Dave on
16 Dec 2009 11:11 PM
Let specific allegations be dealt with in a professional manner and not in a public forum. However, on general issues such as the power inbalance between big banks and brokers, I''d like to see some discussion. when licensing comes in, I''d like to think that we could dispense with lender accreditation as they were introduced as a quality control measure which licensing supercedes. Lets band together and push for this. We don''t get what we don''t fight for, so I ask the FBAA, the MFAA and the AIPB - what have you to say on this issue. The loudest advocate wins my membership.
Chris Szigeti on
17 Dec 2009 12:40 AM
It is good to see that there is some robust discussion taking place but I cant understand why you are not give your names as you cant be taken seriously if you dont. My opinion is if the "little" broker whats to be heard then get involved in any of the associations and put some effort input to the debate instead of complaining - remember the Board Members and State Presidents and Councillors of the FBAA are unpaid and do this job out of real concern and betterment of the industry. Just stand up and be counted and stop hiding and taking snide remarks without knowing the true facts