(20 February 2025 – Australia) Ahead of the upcoming Australian federal election the Coalition has pledged to reform the financial sector to drive productivity and investment.
The opposition plans to reform prudential settings, including by adjusting serviceability requirements and expanding business lending if it wins the election this year.
The shadow Treasury has committed to resetting APRA’s statement of expectations in order to “balance financial stability with providing internationally competitive access to finance for Australians. The move to update lending follows the Albanese government also recently revealed a push to adjust lending rules.
The opposition is also seeking to develop Australia’s corporate bond market and simplify corporations law, which is currently too confusing, complex and long.
“In particular, we will focus on increasing banking competition through more proportionate regulation for our regional, mid-tier and smaller banks, making targeted adjustments to lending criteria to support home ownership, including adjusting serviceability requirements across the interest rate cycle, encouraging growth in small business lending, acknowledging the Productivity Commission’s finding that prudential settings are the biggest obstacle to small business finance. You should not need to own a home to start a business and avoiding overcapitalisation of insurers to better reflect the underlying risks of their portfolios lowering costs for consumers and freeing up capital for investment” stated Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor MP and Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Financial Services, Luke Howarth MP in a joint statement.