The Treasury has proposed that banks and credit providers be able to voluntarily extinguish debt for the poorest of the poor. This would be an alternative to introducing legislation forcing them to do so, a move that Treasury chief director of financial sector conduct Katherine Gibson said could have constitutional implications. There was a strong argument in favour of the financial services industry taking responsibility for their actions. "We could probably do a lot more with buy-in than coming at it with a big stick" Gibson said on Wednesday. She was presenting Treasury’s preliminary views on the debt-relief measures for heavily indebted consumers. The measures are under consideration by Parliament’s trade and industry committee, which is also in the process of proposing its own debt relief bill to Parliament. Gibson said the Treasury was concerned about the reckless lending behaviour of some "unscrupulous" service providers and the high level of consumer overindebtedness. But gr...
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