AFCA empowered to deal with historic complaints
Financial planning firms with long-running client disputes should brace themselves for referral to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), following a key move by the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg.
The Treasurer has announced that the Government has extended AFCA’s remit to consider financial complaints dating back to 1 January, 2008, consistent with the time-span examined by the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.
He said that AFCA would be able to consider disputes dating back to 1 January, 2008, that had not previously been hard and which fell within AFCA’s current monetary limits and compensation thresholds.
Frydenberg said that to give effect to the direction, AAFCA would now consult on updating its rules so that it was in a position to begin receiving complaints under its expanded remit from 1 July, this year.
The ANZ has already committed to allowing AFCA to examine cases dating back to 1 January, 2008.
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