Briefs: Responsible lending fudge deferred, Membo sued over hardship failures, Westpac backs busines 17 March 2021 5:03AM Briefs, Finance regulation, Consumer lending, ASIC, Westpac The Senate accepted a government motion yesterday to defer debate on the National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Supporting Economic Recovery) Bill 2019, which largely removes responsible lending laws from the Act. The deferral means that the bill will not come up for debate until the Budget sitting in May. The motion follows the delivery to all Parliamentarians of an open letter opposing the amendment, signed by 33,000 people and 125 community organisations. ASIC has taken consumer finance company Membo Finance to court, alleging that Membo (which trades as ClearLoans) contravened the National Consumer Credit Protection Act by failing to deal appropriately with customers in hardship. ASIC alleges that Membo failed to provide written decisions in response to hardship applications, failed to give notice of direct debit defaults and failed to give debtors time to correct defaults. Westpac has collaborated with TAFE NSW to offer 1000 of its small business customers places in a small business training course. The Small Business Recovery Series is a 12-week online course covering innovation and change strategies, digital strategies and identifying new business opportunities. New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority (FMA) is to launch a search for a new CEO following the resignation of Rob Everett after seven years in the role. Everett says he will leave around the end of September – though he is flexible on timing - and as yet has made no decisions on his next move.