Briefs: Westpac completes vendor finance sale, AMP Bank appoints new head of intermediary distributi

Westpac has completed the sale of its vendor finance business to Angle Finance, which is part of private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. The business has about 42,000 business customers and about A$500 million of loans. Westpac said the sale would have a negligible impact on its balance sheet and capital ratios. A “small loss” on the sale was recognised in 2019/20.

Former chief executive of The Rock Building Society, Paul Herbert, has joined AMP Bank, where he will head intermediary distribution. Herbert has also worked at MyState Bank, where he was head of lending distribution. AMP Bank said in a statement that it is keen to bolster its support for the broker channel.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with the government, giving the regulator more macro-prudential powers to restrict lending as the housing market booms. Finance Minister Grant Robertson says he has “largely agreed” with proposals from Treasury and the RBNZ to add debt serviceability tools (debt to income restrictions) to the central bank’s toolbox, with the wording to be worked on to minimise any impact on first home buyers. The RBNZ will start consultation in October on implementing DTI restrictions and/or interest rate floors. It says introducing DTIs will take longer, “whereas the banking industry has informed us that interest rate floors could be implemented more quickly”. And consultation with banks on reductions to the amount of lending banks can do above a high Loan-to-Value Ratio (LVR) of 80 percent starts later this month, with a view to introducing tighter restrictions from 1 October.