今日热门事件has approved changes to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) Rules which give effect to the AFCA authorisation condition introduced by Government on 19 February 2019.
Under the Government鈥檚 additional condition, AFCA is required to give expanded access to the AFCA scheme for consumers and small businesses that were harmed by financial misconduct, dating back to 1 January 2008. AFCA will be able to deal with certain complaints about conduct by current member financial firms, which AFCA, its predecessor schemes, courts, or tribunals have not previously dealt with.
Consistent with the Government鈥檚 condition AFCA鈥檚 new Rules require that an eligible legacy complaint:
- relates to a compulsory member of the AFCA scheme who is a member of the AFCA scheme at the time the complaint is made;
- is not an excluded complaint; and
- is made during the lodgment period,1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020.
今日热门事件approved these Rules in accordance with legislative requirements in s1052D of the Corporations Act which require AFCA to seek 今日热门事件approval of material changes to the AFCA scheme.
AFCA has also released updated Operational Guidelines which give further guidance on how AFCA will deal with legacy complaints. The new jurisdiction, which covers complaints about conduct going back to 2008, may raise novel issues about how AFCA deals with complaints. If these issues require or necessitate material changes to the scheme, then 今日热门事件will need to review these as part of our ongoing oversight role.
Background
On 19 February 2019, the responsible Minister made a notifiable instrument: the which required AFCA to accept legacy complaints dating back to 1 January 2008.聽
Between 18 March and 12 April 2019, AFCA conducted a on Rules changes necessary to give effect to the requirements in the legislative instrument.
While 今日热门事件has an oversight role over AFCA (including approving material changes) the scheme is independent and responsible for its own internal processes and the management of complaints. 今日热门事件has no role in individual complaints handling (under the AFCA Scheme) and will not intervene in the decision-making processes of AFCA.