The Australian Bankers Association has now published its response to the independent review of the Code of Banking Practice, and indicated how a redrafted Code will look. When completed, the new Code will influence how the ABA's members - notably the largest banks, their subsidiaries and the raft of second tier banks - are likely to be treated by the general public in a few months.The final report, submitted at the end of January this year, was conducted by Phil Khoury, managing director of governance specialists Cameronralph Navigator, who was appointed by the ABA in mid-2016 as an independent reviewer. The ABA played up the agreements rather than the differences it found."Of the 99 recommendations, the banking industry supports 61 in full. There are 29 recommendations that we support in principle or in part, and the remaining nine we either need more time to consider, or are not in a position to adopt," Diane Tate, ABA executive director of retail policy, said yesterday.Nevertheless, Tate promised that an independent consultant will be appointed to work with "stakeholders and other interested parties" and the ABA to redraft the Code - but not just yet."There are also a number of related Federal Government reviews underway which we need to take into account before we can finalise our work on some of the recommendations," she said.Among these reviews are the Carnell Inquiry into small business lending, the Ramsay Review into external dispute resolution and the Treasury consultation on credit card reforms, all of which were referred to in the Khoury review and as part of the industry response.The highlights of the yet to be crafted new Code, from the ABA's point of view, were listed in its media release as: plain-English language so that Australians can better understand their banking rights and responsibilities; an easier way to cancel credit cards or reduce the credit limit, and a commitment by banks when offering cards to assess people's ability to pay the full credit limit in a reasonable time period; a new dedicated section for small businesses, and a commitment by banks to simplify terms and conditions and give more notice when loan contracts change; and increased help for people experiencing, or at risk of, financial difficulty, so they can take control of their finances.Where the industry diverged from the Khoury Report's recommendations was mostly at the definitional level. For instance, the ABA took issue over what constitutes a "small business" and the concessions that might flow from there. In his review, Khoury defined a small business as one employing less than 100 employees; and if the business ticked that box, then "the provisions of the Code that relate to credit should apply to a small business credit facility only if below A$5 million."In its response the ABA, while stating that the banking industry "supported in principle" the recommendation to expand coverage of small businesses in the Code, it wanted to limit this to businesses with total credit facilities up to $3 million."The