Westpac Group will this weekend upgrade its key measures for assessing property borrowers’ capacity to service their debt, amid intense pressure from regulators to provide better insights into households’ financial commitments and vulnerability to financial stress.
The bank, which includes Bank of Melbourne, BankSA and Bank of St George, is the first to act on lending criteria following warnings from Wayne Byres, chairman of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, about “blind spots” in lenders’ understanding of mortgage borrowers’ other commitments.
Via AFR: