The Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law, Chris Bowen MP, has announced changes to the implementation of the National Consumer Credit Protection Reform Package.

The main change is to bring forward the responsible lending conduct requirements for brokers and other currently unregulated lenders who are not either Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) or Registered Finance Companies (RFCs) , which will now apply from 1 January 2010 instead of 1 January 2011, as previously proposed.

In addition, the commencement of changes to the existing Credit Code for all credit providers will be deferred from 1 January 2010 to 1 July 2010.

There is no change to the registration and licensing timetable.

The responsible lending conduct requirements will commence for Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) and Registered Finance Companies (RFCs) from 1 January 2011. This will allow these credit providers sufficient time to prepare for compliance with the new regime and ensure a smooth transition for the industry.

All remaining responsible lending requirements (such as disclosure of fees and commissions) will commence on 1 January 2011 as previously proposed.