ACFA gets limits but no funding model
Monetary limits are more or less settled, but the funding model and final governance model remain up in the air for the proposed "one stop shop" for financial disputes.A consultation paper from Treasury, released on Friday, fills in a few details on the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, and provides guidance only on the hot button issues.Intended to roll up the Financial Ombudsman Services, the Credit and Insurance Ombudsman and the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal into a single entity, the AFCA model attracts antagonism, at least from the smaller firms that have preferred the CIO as the dispute resolution scheme of choice.Treasury said there will be a dispute limit of A$1 million and a compensation cap of $500,000 for most non-superannuation disputes. For superannuation disputes there will be unlimited monetary jurisdiction for superannuation disputes.There will be "no dispute limits and compensation caps for disputes about whether a guarantee should be set aside where it has been supported by a mortgage or other security over the guarantor's primary place of residence," Treasury said.For small business credit facility disputes, where a small business credit facility is of an amount up to $5 million, AFCA, "should have a compensation cap of $1 million."A board of nine to 11 directors is proposed, a minority of whom will be appointed in the first instance by the minister.