How many Dixon complaints has AFCA processed?
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has revealed the number of Dixon Advisory and Superannuation Services (DASS) complaints it has closed.
As of 30 June 2024, AFCA confirmed the total complaints it had received relating to losses under Dixon stood at 2,773.
Dixon’s AFCA membership ceased on 30 June, preventing it from accepting new complaints relating to the financial firm.
The complaints authority has since told Money Management that as of 29 October, it has now closed 128 DASS complaints received since AFCA’s inception on 1 November 2018. These closures include 91 determinations.
This figure represents 4.6 per cent of the total complaints it will be working through.
Last week, AFCA announced its annual report for FY24. Over the financial year, it received 3,559 complaints about investment and advice which was down 26 per cent from FY23. In the previous year, it had received 4,840 which was a rise of 50 per cent during the 12-month period driven by Dixon Advisory.
Overall sector complaints, excluding Dixon Advisory, fell to an all-time low of 2,709 complaints, which AFCA said reflected greater professionalism of the sector.
“Excluding complaints about Dixon Advisory and Superannuation Services, investment and advice complaints reached an all-time low at 2,709 complaints. This reflects the positive impact of enhanced education standards and increased professionalism within the industry, leading to fewer disputes,” it said.
Last month, it was confirmed that the senate economics references committee would be investigating the collapse of Dixon through an inquiry and examining how this failure has influenced the development and ongoing viability of the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR).
The motion for the inquiry was proposed back on 17 September by Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party. A final report from the committee, which is chaired by Labor senator Jess Walsh, is due by the last sitting day in March.
Individuals and organisations are invited to make submissions to the inquiry by 1 November.
Money Management recently covered that in reviewing three AFCA determinations regarding Dixon, a common denominator was a failure by Dixon to describe the risk of the asset allocation properly.
Namely, Dixon classified its US Masters Residential Property Fund as “mixed assets”, with both defensive and growth characteristics, and that AFCA determined was an inappropriate label. As a result, the recommended asset allocation was not aligned with the risk profile of a complainant’s self-managed superannuation fund, meaning they were worse off by $561,277.
AUTHOR
Jasmine Siljic
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