Briefs: Fitch says mortgage arrears will worsen, Guthrie fingers uncooperative lenders, CBA invests 26 March 2024 6:46AM John Kavanagh Fiona Guthrie, CEO, Way Forward Fitch Ratings released its latest Dinkum RMBS index update, reporting that arrears (30 days or more overdue) rose 10 basis points in the December 2023 quarter to 1.21 per cent. This is the highest level since May 2020, when arrears spiked at the beginning of COVID. Fitch said it expects further deterioration in the March quarter, and it expects the cash rate to stay where it is for most of this year. Former Financial Counselling Australia chief executive Fiona Guthrie is making her presence felt at non-profit debt solutions organisation Way Forward, where she took over as CEO last month. Guthrie used LinkedIn to post a list of lenders that Way Forward staff find difficult to work with. The list included MoneyMe, Now Finance, Plenti, Jacaranda, and CashFaster. Guthrie said the inclusion of MoneyMe was particularly disappointing, given it has B Corp certification – an accreditation that indicates high social and environmental standards. Commonwealth Bank has participated in a US$47 million series A2 capital raising by UK regtech company Global Screening Services. Founded in 2021, Global Screening says it is in the business of sanctions compliance technology, providing services to financial institutions that help reduce process duplication and error rates in screening processes. CBA has been a member of Global Screening’s advisory board for the past 18 months and as part of its investment it will appoint an observer to the company’s main board. Its representative will be John Fogarty, executive general manager financial crime compliance.
