Complaints schemes merge
The Financial Planning Association’s (FPA) complaints resolution scheme will be rolled into the operations of its only competitor under a deal announced late yes-terday.
The Financial Planning Association’s (FPA) complaints resolution scheme will be rolled into the operations of its only competitor under a deal announced late yes-terday.
The Financial Industry Complaints Service Limited (FICS) will now assume all complaints handled by the Financial Services Complaints Resolution Scheme (FSCRS) prior to 31 December last year, according to FICS’ chief executive offi-cer Paul Bean.
“It’s what we’ve called an integration. All their business has been transferred to us,” Bean says.
Bean has confirmed that four FSCRS staff members will join FICS by next week. The FPA will also have a seat on the FICS board. Meanwhile, FSCRS manager Ni-cole Arendsen will join the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT) as deputy chairperson.
Bean says the merger will result in a “more cost efficient” consumer complaints mechanism.
While FICS was the first scheme to gain Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) approval last year, the FSCRS was given approval to operate as an external complaints resolution scheme only on the condition that it gain full legal independence from the FPA by the end of February. Last November, a spokesperson for the FSCRS said the processes for this legal separation were under way alongside “a review of FSCRS membership fees and operating expenses to en-sure it was financially viable as a complaints scheme”.
Though membership numbers will swell as a result of the announcement, Bean says business will continue under the FICS operating structure.
“We’ll probably have over 1000 members at the end of the day, ranging from indi-viduals to fund managers. We already have the top 80 fund managers and all life insurers as members,” he says.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has welcomed the an-nouncement, with director of ASIC’s Office of Consumer Protection Peter Kell saying the watchdog “will assist the schemes, where necessary, to make the transi-tion a smooth one for consumers and industry members”.
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