The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has approved the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) Complaint Resolution Scheme Rules and the Terms of Reference of the AFCA Independent Assessor (IA).

AFCA will commence on 1 November 2018

It is a statutory requirement that financial firms including credit representatives, that deal with retail clients must join the AFCA scheme by 21 September 2018.

According to ASIC almost all Financial Ombudsman Scheme members have effectively transferred their membership to AFCA. About 80% of members of the Credit and Investments Ombudsman Scheme and about 64% of superannuation trustees and retirement savings accounts providers have also joined up.

Applying for membership can be done online at afca.org.au