The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has published an updated Approach to family violence and Approach to financial abuse of older people following a comprehensive consultation process.
AFCA updated the following::
expanded and refreshed the Approach to family violence, which will replace AFCA’s existing Approach to joint accounts and family violence
revised and updated the Approach to financial abuse of older people, which will replace the superseded Approach to financial elder abuse
We listened carefully to the call for clear, relevant information from AFCA about how we handle complaints involving these complex issues.
Our intention is that our updated Approaches will assist firms, consumers and others to resolve complaints earlier in the process and avoid escalation to AFCA.
The final Approaches now cover all product areas with a series of case studies and examples informed by AFCA’s extensive experience dealing with these issues. They include information about how:
AFCA defines family violence and financial abuse of older people and principles for responding to these issues
family violence and financial abuse of older people may occur across a broad range of financial products and early warning signs
AFCA deals with these issues when they arise in complaints across different products and services, including insurance, superannuation, and investments and advice complaints
The two Approaches are now available on AFCA’s website, along with a joint consultation feedback report.
For more information, including the Approach documents, consultation paper, key dates for the consultation and FAQs, please visit the consultation page.