Briefs: New CFO and director for Pioneer, banks reinstate relief measures in VIC, and more

Debt buyer Pioneer Credit has a new chief financial officer and a new non-executive director. Barry Hartnett has been appointed CFO, following the resignation of Jason Musca. Hartnett was previously Pioneer’s chief development officer. Steve Targett is joining the board, replacing Ann Robinson. Targett was head of institutional banking at ANZ in the 2000s and then went on to head a number of mutuals.

The Australian Banking Association announced yesterday that its members are offering support measures for consumers and small businesses affected by the lockdown in Victoria. The ABA said the assistance on offer included adjustments to loan repayments, waivers on fees and charges, interest-free periods, a moratorium on interest rate increases and help with debt consolidation.

Humm Group is marketing a series of floating rate notes totalling approximately A$260 million, backed by a pool of Australian unsecured consumer receivables. According to pre-sale reports from Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service, these loans were originated by Certegy Ezi-Pay Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Humm. The collateral pool consists of point-of-sale, buy-now-pay-later consumer finance loans used to finance a wide variety of products, such as solar equipment (33.3 per cent of the portfolio), home items (20.8 per cent) and medical services (18.9 per cent).

Moody's Investors Service expects the performance of auto loan asset-backed securities across Asia-Pacific to vary over the next few months, given the different pace of economic recovery across countries. In a new report on the region, Moody's said auto loan ABS delinquency rates in Australia increased in March to 2.8 per cent in March 2021, compared with 2.45 per cent in December 2020 and 2.74 per cent in March 2020. The agency has forecast this rate to increase "moderately" over the next few months because of an uneven reaction to the end of lender and government support measures. However, recovery rates on defaulted loans will be strong, with a buoyant used car market and high used car prices, Moody's said.