The nation’s MPs yawned their way through a long night last Thursday – they finished at 4am – to push the Financial Services Reform Bill through the House of Representatives. Also passed was the Financial Services Reform (Consequential Provisions) Bill, which outlines the transitional provisions for the FSRB.

Now comes the hard part, if Financial Services and Regulation Minister Joe Hockey expects to meet his October 1 implementation deadline. It all hinges on the Joint Parliamentary Committee investigating the Bill, which isn’t expected to finalise its report until sometime in August.

However, the time available for the Senate to debate the Bill is extremely limited. Its next session dates are August 6-9, August 20-30, and September 17-27.

The ALP is expected to push for a range of amendments, which could impact on the ASIC policy statements that underpin the Bill. In that case, Mr Hockey can kiss October 1 goodbye. Our money’s on January 1, but a federal election could get in the way. December 1 is also firming as the most likely date for an election, but Prime Minister John Howard may decide the present upturn in the polls is a good excuse for a snap election.

NIBA CEO Noel Pettersen said the tight timetables for the FSRB are putting the October 1 commencement schedule in some doubt. “There is still a fair bit of clarification required, and the timetable will make it extremely difficult for those caught by it to adapt their systems to comply,” he said.