The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) is seeking submissions on proposed changes to its Rules which will expand its jurisdiction to deal with eligible complaints about conduct dating back to 1 January 2008.

This expanded jurisdiction would operate for a period of 12 months from 1 July 2019.

This consultation follows the responsible Minister amending AFCA’s authorisation conditions to allow AFCA to deal with these legacy complaints.

Consumers, small businesses, financial firms and other stakeholders are invited to review the proposed changes and make a submission to the consultation.

AFCA is specifically seeking feedback on whether the proposed changes satisfy the requirements of the new authorisation conditions and if the proposed additions to AFCA’s Operational Guidelines adequately explain how they will apply.

Following the consultation, the proposed amendments to the Rules will be provided to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for review and approval. It is anticipated that the amended Rules will be released in June 2019.

Please email your submission to submissions@afca.org.au before COB Friday 12 April 2019.

Submissions will be published on the AFCA website – please mark your document as ‘confidential’ if you do not want it published.

Further information

The consultation paper, draft amendments to the Rules and draft amendments to the Operational Guidelines are available on the AFCA website at afca.org.au/news/consultation

Media contact

Please email media@afca.org.au

Published: 18 March 2019