Prof Pollaers’ appointment follows the Hon Helen Coonan’s term of office as AFCA’s inaugural Chair.

Prof Pollaers is Chancellor of Swinburne University of Technology, Chairman of the Australian Advanced Manufacturing Council and Chairman and Founder of Leef Independent Living Solutions Pty Ltd. He was formerly Chair of the Aged Care Workforce Strategy Taskforce for the Federal Government, Chairman of the Australian Industry and Skills Committee and a member of the Prime Minister’s Industry 4.0 Taskforce. He has had a distinguished executive career in both retail and advanced manufacturing industries.

The Hon Helen Coonan said she was pleased Prof Pollaers had been appointed to the role of Independent Chair and that he brought significant experience to AFCA.

“John is an experienced Chair and leader whose career is characterised by a commitment to strong governance and visionary strategic leadership. He has always created strong, effective relationships between industry, government and consumer bodies in all sectors he has been involved in. John’s independence and experience will be instrumental in driving AFCA’s vision to be a world-class ombudsman service into the future,” Ms Coonan said.

“John will make an excellent Chair. I wish both John and the Board well as they continue to deliver against AFCA’s vision and strategy,” Ms Coonan said.

Prof Pollaers said he was delighted to be joining the organisation, noting AFCA’s core purpose to deliver fair outcomes to members, consumers and small business.

“AFCA provides an essential service to the community. AFCA’s role to effectively work with financial firms, consumers and small business to resolve financial complaints, often in complex situations, is critical,” Prof Pollaers said.

“I am delighted to be working alongside a committed and experienced Board to support Chief Ombudsman and CEO David Locke as we continue to deliver on AFCA’s core purpose to provide fair and independent solutions for financial disputes, and support our members to raise standards and minimise disputes.”

AFCA’s Board thanked the outgoing Chair, the Hon Helen Coonan for her dedication and her commitment to building a world-class ombudsman service.

The Board acknowledged Helen’s outstanding contribution as AFCA’s inaugural Chair, when AFCA took over the work of three significant predecessor bodies to provide a single external dispute resolution service with a significantly expanded jurisdiction, an increased membership and the capacity to award significantly increased levels of financial compensation to consumers and small business.

“Helen has been an exceptional Chair of AFCA over the last three years establishing AFCA as an important national body, helping industry and thousands of consumers to resolve often intractable disputes. AFCA has worked with the financial services industry to promote best practice.”

During Ms Coonan’s tenure as Independent Chair, AFCA received over 188,000 disputes with over $522 million being paid in compensation to individual consumers and small business owners.

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ASIC is required to approve material changes to the AFCA scheme under the Corporations Act, 2001.  This is a key part of ASIC’s role in overseeing the operation of the new scheme.

‘ASIC’s approval marks another milestone towards the AFCA scheme’s commencement on 1 November 2018,’ said ASIC deputy chair Peter Kell.

‘The approval of the AFCA Rules and the IA Terms of Reference follow a period of public consultation and feedback, and both AFCA and ASIC appreciate the timely contributions from industry and consumer representatives to that process.  Further material changes to the AFCA scheme will also need to be approved by ASIC,’ he said.

The Chair of the Board of AFCA, the Hon. Helen Coonan, also welcomed ASIC’s approval.

‘AFCA will provide consumers and small business with access to fair, free and independent complaint resolution,’ said Ms Coonan.

‘We look forward to working with ASIC, and consumer, small business and industry stakeholders in implementing this important reform, which will assist in restoring trust and confidence in the financial services industry.’

It is a statutory requirement that financial firms including most credit representatives, that deal with retail clients must join the AFCA scheme by 21 September 2018.

Almost all Financial Ombudsman Scheme members have effectively transferred their membership to AFCA.  About 80% of members of the Credit and Investments Ombudsman Scheme and about 64% of superannuation trustees and retirement savings accounts providers have also joined up.

Applying for membership can be done online at afca.org.au

AFCA is providing regular membership updates to ASIC so that we can monitor financial firm compliance with the statutory membership deadline.

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