Dixon makes up a third of AFCA advice firm complaints in 2H23

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority’s (AFCA) latest Datacube, which shows complaints for the six months to 31 December 2023, showed that Dixon Advisory is still leading the way in advice-related complaints with 52 over the period.

While this topped the list, it is far lower than can be expected from the following six months, as the complaints authority had already announced in May that a further 544 complaints about Dixon Advisory had been made between 15 February and 30 April.

It also represents a significant drop from the 2022–23 financial year, in which Dixon accounted for 1,726 complaints.

In cancelling Dixon Advisory’s Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) in April 2023, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) had required it to remain an AFCA scheme member until at least 8 April 2024, which likely prompted the sharp increase in complaints as those affected raced to beat the deadline.

However, Dixon continues to hold membership of the scheme, although AFCA has since announced it plans to terminate its membership on 30 June.

The 52 complaints against Dixon is almost as many as the next four largest entities combined, with AMP Financial Planning receiving 19 complaints, Oztures Trading (also known as Binance) receiving 18, and Commonwealth Financial Planning and Learn to Trade receiving eight each.

A further 11 financial advice entities received a total of 50 complaints, taking the total for financial advice to 155.

However, the Datacube only displays firms that received four or more complaints against it during a given period, so there is likely to be a number of further complaints against financial advice firms that haven’t made the cut.