The managing director of the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA) has declared that the fight for fairness around clawbacks and other issues that adversely affect the industry will continue.

Peter White AM also revealed that the FBAA has recently presented a new round of submissions to the federal government regarding clawbacks, net of offset commission payments, APRA buffer rates, bank practices to entice new borrowers, and the need to better define broker eligibility for best interests duty.

However he also thanked the banks that have recently reduced clawbacks and those non-bank lenders that have eliminated them on some products, and credited the FBAA’s ongoing lobbying efforts for these decisions.

“We welcome each step that brings greater fairness for brokers, so I don’t want to ignore or downplay what some banks have done and the movement we are seeing.

“However there is a long way to go, and until we see real, tangible and widespread progress, we will continue our efforts.”

Mr White said over the past few weeks he has forwarded new submissions on various subjects to federal treasurer Jim Chalmers and assistant treasurer and financial services minister Stephen Jones, while he and the FBAA’s national executive team last week discussed the issues personally with finance minister Katy Gallagher when she called into the association’s national office.

“I can’t guarantee the end result or how fast any progress will be made, but I can provide our members and the industry-at-large a commitment that I and the FBAA will not give up,” he said.

He said while clawbacks were of high importance, the FBAA wants to see change on a number of other issues as well.

“Buffer rates need to be decreased, there must be changes around how BID is applied to bundled products in a home loan, and brokers are still being ripped off by bank practices around net of offset commissions.”

Mr White said the work is never done, and urged brokers to continue with the excellent customer service the industry has become known for.

“It makes our work a lot easier when decision makers in government know that we have Australian borrowers backing us.”