AFCA flooded with Dixon complaints

As at 1 April, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has received over 1,800 complaints against Dixon Advisory, with a majority of those hitting the watchdog’s inbox following an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announcement on 3 August.

Namely, last year, the corporate watchdog informed former Dixon clients that they may be eligible for compensation under a potential future Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR) but noted that they needed to take action as soon as possible.

“ASIC will soon be writing to former clients of Dixon Advisory to inform them that if they believe they have suffered loss as a result of the misconduct of Dixon Advisory and/or their former Dixon Advisory financial adviser in providing financial advice, they should make a complaint to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority,” ASIC said in a statement at the time.

As a result, AFCA was flooded by over 1,700 complaints in the space of several months.

The watchdog, however, informed consumers early last year that it had paused progress of all Dixon-related complaints until after the CSLR has been established.

“AFCA will only be able to fully assess the impact of the CSLR and its relevance to paused complaints once the scheme is legislated. We will review all relevant complaints as soon as that occurs,” AFCA said.

Overall, AFCA reported that the number of complaints lodged against financial advisers reached 2,454 in the six months from 1 July to 31 December, up by 25 per cent compared to the first half.

Complaints received in relation to superannuation fund trustees/advisers reached 2,538 in the reviewed period, while banks topped the chart with 16,654 complaints.