ECT is not a bank or finance business??? This certainly must be news to those who took financial loans from ECT Finance or stumble upon the website http://ectfinance.com.au/. I suppose the counter point would be to say that the companies are separate entities but they seem to occupy the same physical space at 388 Punt Road South Yarra VIC. Can the people working in ECT not get advice from ECT Finance on financial matters, for instance, perhaps the management of both entities could organise a meeting to exchange ideas.
Also your comparison of roughly 5% is the best case scenario. You've neglected to mention the sliding scale of the ELF loan facility, in the worst case scenario. All in all interest rates sit between 3.14% and 11.64%. A difference between 5% and 11% does seem to me very generous indeed.
Even still there is a large shareholder base that could have compensated for this shortfall in funds, considering they are still unable to trade I'm sure they would welcome the opportunity to receive interest on any investment, especially at a rate of even 10%, which is much less than the 15% given in this previous loan and is less than at least the highest interest rate. I do however wonder why such a loan is needed, given the collection of interest over previous quarters from the ELF scheme, if I were still a shareholder I would be hoping for more frugality.
(20min delay)