ASIC Victory in Four-Year Pursuit of High-Fee Lenders

The financial watchdog has been handed a victory in a four-year legal battle against Gold Coast lenders that charged exorbitant fees for loans issued without a credit licence. Just over 100,000 consumers borrowed $35 million (US$23 million) in loans from Cigno and BSF Solutions from July 2022 to June 2023. In that time, those same customers were charged more than $70 million (US$46 million) in fees. Cigno was involved in marketing the loans while BSF Solutions advanced them. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) first sued Cigno and another firm BHF Solutions in September 2020 alleging that between October 2019 and March 2020 they offered short-term credit and charged excessive fees without a licence....