AFCA fees set to increase 3.5% in FY25-26

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has revealed that, as part of its annual fee review process, it will apply an increase of 3.5 per cent from 1 July 2025 for the 2025-26 financial year.

This will affect its annual registration fees, complaint fee schedule and systemic fees.

“As a not for profit, AFCA takes a careful and considered approach to our fees,” AFCA said in a statement.

“We have a user pays funding model, and even with the new fee increase, thanks to our low annual registration fee and five free complaints model, approximately 98 per cent of AFCA members will pay less than $400 in total fees and charges for AFCA each year.

“Over 50 per cent of our complaints we receive will be resolved for under $100.”

In the 2024-25 financial year, the annual registration fee was $388.69 for financial firm members and $68.29 for ACR members. Members who receive five complaints within the financial year only pay the annual fee.

The figure is greater than actuary estimates within the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR) levy estimate, which had forecast an AFCA fee increase of 3.1 per cent, reflecting CPI inflation.

Speaking at its member forum, chief executive David Locke said the organisation is receiving lots of enquiries that shouldn’t be going to AFCA and should be handled internally by the firms.

Complaints to AFCA went up to 104,861 in 2023–24, which he said was double the number just five years ago. This has been exacerbated by large-scale matters such as Dixon Advisory and United Capital Group (UGC), which have received a large volume of complaints each.

As a result, the organisation has increased its complaints handling workforce by 40 per cent and bought in surge workers for specific cases. The latest annual report for 2023-24 showed the average time to close a complaint was 74 days but 33 per cent were closed within 30 days.

“There are lots of matters that come through to AFCA that should be nowhere near an external dispute resolution scheme, such as service and delay complaints, and these cases come to us and then they are waiting because nobody is resolving them at your end or at our end,” Locke said.

“AFCA was never set up to resolve problems like delays. We should be handling matters where there is a significant legal or evidential dispute, rather than this process work.

“We have been having conversations with boards and senior leadership at these firms about how, if they invest money in recruiting more staff to deal with IDR then you will pay AFCA less money, and less complaints will come through to us.

“If you have matters which are awaiting allocation, then there’s a real incentive for you to work with us to resolve them because the fees increase significantly if they aren’t resolved at the IDR stage and progress to case management. If you can resolve them before they come to us, then we can reduce the costs significantly.”

Between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025, fees for complaints closed before referral are $0 but rise to $1,141 if a complaint progresses to case management. It then rises to $9,304 if it goes all the way to the decision stage.

Brigid Parsonson, executive general manager for corporate services, added: “For firms who are able to resolve complaints at that early stage, they are being resolved for less than $100.

“It’s always within the control of the member that the fees and charges they pay, if they can invest in the IDR and resolve those complaints early, then you can substantially bring down your costs.”