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.
A member body representing some prominent wealth managers is concerned super funds’ dominance is sidelining small companies in capital markets.
Earlier this month, several Australian superannuation funds fell victim to credential stuffing attacks, which saw a small number of members lose more than $500,000.
Small- to medium-sized funds have become collateral damage in an "imperfect" model for super industry levies, a financial institution has said.
Big business has joined the chorus of opposition against the proposed Division 296 tax.