Government warned for 3 years lending changes would create issues

[king1]

this does seem to suggest that the banks were tightening up the lending criteria a lot earlier than when the new laws came into force.
So maybe the government is just being made a scapegoat by/for the banks change in lending policy

So first you say that the banks want kill the new law because it would be bad for them then you say they are implementing them early.  Hmmmm

well it makes sense really if you think about it.  At some stage in the near future banks are going to want to loosen there lending criteria when the money is flowing a bit more; at that point they won't be wanting these pesky new laws getting in the way. 

For now though, it suits their purpose to portray the government and new regs as the problem rather than their own currently restrictive lending policies ...