There has been a significant decline in the number of complaints against the derivatives and foreign exchange dealers received by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) in the last fiscal ending 30 June 2023. However, there was a significant increase in the overall number of complaints to 92,915 from 69,785.

Complaints against Aussie Financial Service Providers

According to the updated figure, the AFCA received a total of 197 complaints against derivatives dealers operating in the country compared to 418 complaints in the previous fiscal. The complaints against forex dealers also came down to 93 from 622, which was pushed in FY22 higher by 543 complaints against Union Standard International Group, a company now under liquidation.

Among derivatives dealers, the Aussie arm of FTX, which is currently under administration, had the most number of complaints in FY23 against it at 65, followed by IC Markets with 32 complaints and an IG subsidiary with 16. The Australian unit of CMC Markets and Plus500 received 14 complaints each.

While FTX did not resolve any complaints against it, most of the other well-known derivatives dealer brands with double-digit complaints resolved some of the issues, however, in single digits.

Complaints against derivatives dealers in Australia

Companies Are Also Resolving Complaints

Coming to the forex dealers in the country, OzForex received the highest number of complaints at 30, while two subsidiaries of HIFX received 20 and 10 complaints, respectively. The Aussie subsidiary of Vantage received nine complaints, none of which has been resolved.

Complaints against forex dealers in Australia

AFCA Datacube only adds companies that received at least four complaints in the financial year.

Although the overall resolution rate across all sectors remains at 52 percent, the figure dropped to 19 percent for derivative dealers and 39 percent for forex dealers.

“The amount of time that the financial firm has to respond depends on the type of complaint and what’s happened previously, including whether the financial firm has had an opportunity to complete its internal dispute resolution process,” the AFCA stated.

Source