The Commercial & Asset Finance Brokers Association (CAFBA) today brought regulators, economists, lenders and industry leaders together for its 2026 Commercial Property & Development Finance Summit, themed “The Shifting Market — Navigating Regulation, Private Credit & Market Opportunity.”
ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant delivered the keynote address, addressing private credit regulation and the corporate regulator’s expectations for the commercial finance sector, as private lending continues to move capital beyond traditional bank channels and reshape how developers and businesses fund projects.
The one-day event examined three forces bearing down on commercial property and development finance:
- ASIC’s regulatory focus and what it means for lenders and brokers
- The continued growth of private credit
- The economic, property and funding conditions shaping opportunities ahead for commercial finance professionals.
Commissioner Constant also joined a private credit panel alongside Tom Cranfield, Executive Director of Zagga Group Australia, and Daniel Mote, Head of Capital Solutions & Corporate Affairs at Qualitas.
The program continued with a post-Federal Budget tax and business update, a property market fireside chat with development sector representatives, and an economic update from Kevin Stanley of Commonwealth Bank.
Gavin Melvin, Executive Director – Policy and Strategy at UDIA NSW, and Chris Ardagna, Partner at Pitcher Partners, rounded out the speaker line-up.
“CAFBA Brokers sit at the intersection of borrowers, lenders and the property market. Hearing today from Simone Constant reinforced the need to lift standards and professionalism – a pathway that CAFBA has been on for over 20 years.
Simone has put the private credit market on notice that ASIC expects private credit lenders to meet the standards set out by ASIC, particularly the 10 Principles of Private Credit Done Well. We endorse this and the conversation today with Tom and Daniel gave the market realtime evidence that the better lenders are already well down the path of implementing the standards to ensure the industry thrives over the long term.”
