ASIC Proposes Draft Guide on AFCA Scam Reporting

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has proposed its first substantive update to guidance on overseeing the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), preparing the scheme for scam disputes involving banks, telecoms firms and digital platforms. The draft Regulatory Guide 267 (RG 267) sets out how AFCA will route scam-related reports to different regulators.

From March 31, 2027, telecoms firms and digital platforms will be covered by a scheme originally built for financial firms. AFCA received almost 120,000 complaints in the 2025-26 financial year, the most in its history, according to its annual review published on October 22. Scams were the top issue in banking and finance, with 6,580 cases. The caseload has grown from 102,790 complaints in calendar 2023, and this is the first rewrite of the guide since the scheme opened in 2018.

ASIC: Scam Reports Split Between Three Regulators

Under the draft, reports on banks go to ASIC and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the general regulator of the Scams Prevention Framework (SPF). Telecommunications matters go to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and the ACCC, while digital platform matters go to the ACCC alone. The draft states that neither telecoms nor digital platform matters are to be reported to ASIC.

Banks, the sector ASIC supervises under the framework, already face its scrutiny over scams through their licenses. In June, the regulator sought a A$35 million penalty from HSBC Australia, which took an average of 144 days to resolve scam cases, and the Federal Court later ordered it. Online, the agency removed more than 19,400 scams in fiscal 2026, up 182% from a year earlier, including 7,051 fake investment platforms. Investment scams cost Australians A$837.7 million in 2025 on the government's combined scam-loss measure, the largest single category, according to FM Intelligence data.

Reporting Windows and Membership Rules Change

ASIC said it would consult the ACCC and the relevant sector regulator before using powers that could affect AFCA's scam jurisdiction. It also added a scam example to the serious contraventions AFCA must report: a regulated firm with no accessible way for consumers to report suspected scams. AFCA is expected to report such matters within 15 days, a window the draft now lets regulators and AFCA change by agreement. Conduct suggesting ongoing harm should be reported as soon as practicable.

For brokers, advisers and other licensees, the most visible change is a removal. ASIC deleted the guide's detailed section on financial firms' AFCA membership obligations and plans to set out those duties, including cooperating with AFCA, on its dispute resolution web pages. The draft also drops material now covered by AFCA's ASIC-approved scheme rules and legacy content, such as compensation caps under the schemes AFCA replaced. A new example covers a financial adviser who misappropriates client funds, a case AFCA would report to ASIC.

The scheme has handled trading clients' losses before. It kept taking complaints from Forex CT clients until August 2021, a year after the broker lost its license.

The guide also limits what ASIC can do. Its general direction power cannot be used to tell AFCA how to handle a specific complaint, and the draft says complainants and AFCA members have no way to ask ASIC to issue a direction.

Final Guide Due When the Regime Starts

AFCA has finished consulting on its own scam rules, and ASIC said RG 267 may change again once those rules are final. ASIC did not issue a consultation paper this time, publishing the draft guide and a summary of changes instead. Feedback is due by 5 p.m. Australian Eastern Daylight Time on November 24. ASIC plans to publish the final guide and the revised web pages by March 31, 2027.