The Morrison Government has today tabled the Review of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) in Parliament, and welcomes its findings that AFCA is operating effectively and meeting its statutory requirements.
AFCA plays an important role in the financial system, providing consumers and small businesses that have complaints about their financial firms with access to an out‑of‑court dispute resolution service that is designed to be free, fast and binding. The Government is committed to ensuring AFCA is operating effectively and achieving its objectives.
The Review makes 14 recommendations, of which 13 are directed to AFCA. The recommendations primarily focus on enhancements to AFCA’s transparency and to its decision‑making processes to further improve AFCA’s operations to better meet the needs of its users and members.
The Review makes one recommendation directed to Government, which is to remove the legislative requirement for authorised credit representatives to be members of AFCA. The Government supports the implementation of this recommendation noting it removes unnecessary regulatory requirements that do not enhance protections for consumers.
The final report of the AFCA Review, and the Government’s response are available on Treasury’s website.