FSU claim	ABA response
Australian banks are guilty of over-selling debt	Wrong: ·         The responsible and conservative lending stance which has been adopted by the Australian banks means the sector is solid and weathered the global financial crisis.   ·         The FSU will be surprised to learn that currently household balance sheets are in good shape as many banks tell us that the majority of borrowers are ahead in their required home loan repayments. It is important to note that the most recent Reserve Bank statistics for 90+ days non-performing loans have shown a small fall in arrears rates for housing and personal loans. ·          On an annual basis, credit card repayments have exceeded the value of transactions for the past five years. ·          The data above show that banks are responsible and prudent lenders.
Reward short- term risk just like American and British banks	Wrong: ·         The remuneration policies of ABA member banks appear to have been effective in driving strong, long-term performance of our banks, including prudent risk-taking. ·         Australian banks are well regarded around the world for their sound performance, strong capital levels and low levels of impaired assets. The performance of Australia's banks has been promoted by the current Government in international forums. ·         APRA has introduced additional requirements for Australian banks to ensure remuneration is tied to appropriate risk-taking by banks. ·         In contrast, banks in the USA and UK failed and required taxpayer bailouts or were nationalised.
Why are Australian banks against responsible lending laws?	They aren’t: ·          The ABA’s Code of Banking Practice requires responsible lending and this was put in place long before any Commonwealth laws were proposed. ·         Since late 2008, the ABA has been working with the Government to ensure aspects of the laws are workable and do not disadvantage credit-worthy consumers. The consultation group contains a range of relevant stakeholders such as consumer advocates, external dispute resolution schemes, financiers, finance brokers, ASIC and industry groups. ·         To say that this constructive engagement is opposition to the responsible lending laws is misleading. ·        The new responsible lending laws come into effect on 1 January 2011 for ADIs and regulated finance companies, for other credit providers, 1 July 2010.
ABA CEO Steven Münchenberg urged that Australia refuse to adopt new global rules	Wrong: ·         The ABA supports Australia being part of international regulatory reforms being proposed on capital and liquidity, and made this view clear in its public submissions to the Basel Committee. The Australian banking industry is working with the Government to ensure international standard setters provide some scope for flexibility for national circumstances to minimise the cost of new regulation on the economy. ·        The ABA believes that the European proposal to impose additional taxes on banks around the world is not appropriate in Australia because Australian banks did not require taxpayer bailouts. ·         Taxpayer money was not used to bail out Australian banks. In fact, Australian banks and other lenders have so far paid around $1.1 billion for the use of the Government’s wholesale funding guarantee and will pay more than $5 billion over its full life.