Dispute resolution
Financial firms must have a dispute resolution system that consists of:
- internal dispute resolution (IDR) procedures that meet the standards or requirements made or approved by ASIC; and
- membership of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).
ASIC Regulatory Guide 267 Oversight of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (RG 267) sets out who must have a dispute resolution system and which financial firms must be members of AFCA.
For more information, see:
- Regulatory Guide 165 Licensing: Internal and external dispute resolution (RG 165);
- Regulatory Guide 267 Oversight of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (RG 267); and
- Regulatory Guide 271 Internal dispute resolution (RG 271).
Note: RG 165 and RG 271 should be read in conjunction with RG 267.
Internal dispute resolution (IDR)
Regulatory Guide 165 Licensing: Internal and external dispute resolution (RG 165) sets out how financial firms that are required to comply with IDR requirements can meet their obligations. These include the requirement that financial firms have in-house processes to resolve complaints received about their products and services, including how they handle complaints.
Note: RG 165 applies to complaints received by financial firms before 5 October 2021. From 5 October 2021 Regulatory Guide 271 Internal dispute resolution (RG 271) comes into effect. We will withdraw RG 165 on 5 October 2022.
External dispute resolution (EDR)
Regulatory Guide 267 Oversight of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (RG 267) sets out which financial firms must be members of AFCA and how ASIC will perform its oversight role in relation to AFCA.
AFCA is a single dispute resolution scheme for financial services and commenced operations on 1 November 2018. AFCA can resolve complaints that a financial firm could not resolve at IDR.
AFCA replaces the Financial Ombudsman Service Limited (FOS), Credit and Investments Ombudsman (CIO) and the statutory Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT), the predecessor schemes.
AFCA can consider complaints about:
- credit, finance and loans
- insurance
- banking deposits and payments
- investments and financial advice
- superannuation
Notifying ASIC of changes to your AFCA membership
You must inform ASIC in writing about changes to your AFCA membership.
This includes circumstances where:
- you fail to renew your AFCA membership,
- you no longer require AFCA membership; or
- AFCA has terminated your membership of the scheme.
More about your ongoing AFS obligations
Dispute resolution and consumers
Information about dispute resolution for consumers is on our consumer website Moneysmart.
Australian financial services (AFS) licensees have obligations to compensate consumers who have suffered from non-compliant financial advice. For more information, see:
