While almost all financial planning organisations have signed up to the new Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), many superannuation funds appear to be dragging their feet.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has revealed that almost all Financial Ombudsman Scheme (FOS) members which include financial planning firms had effectively transferred their membership to AFCA.
However, it noted that about 80 per cent of members of the Credit and Investments Ombudsman Scheme and about 64 per cent of superannuation trustees and retirement savings accounts providers had also joined up.
ASIC confirmed the status of the organisations which had signed up to AFCA while announcing it had approved the AFCA Complaint Resolution Scheme Rules and the Terms of Reference of the AFCA Independent Assessor (IA).
Firms are statutorily obliged to join the AFCA scheme by 21 September.
The superannuation industry was broadly opposed to having the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT) wound down with its functions being included with the AFCA framework.
While the Liberal senator has accused super funds of locking everyday Australians out of the housing market, industry advocates say the Coalition’s policy would only push home ownership further out of reach.
Australia’s largest superannuation fund has confirmed all members who had funds stolen during the recent cyber fraud crime have been reimbursed.
As institutional investors grapple with shifting sentiment towards US equities and fresh uncertainty surrounding tariffs, Australia’s Aware Super is sticking to a disciplined, diversified playbook.
Market volatility continued to weigh on fund returns last month, with persistent uncertainty making it difficult to pinpoint how returns will fare in April.