1.        FICS is a private company, formed in 1999 by a group of AFSL holders, as an external dispute resolution scheme It is fully paid for by the planning industry.

2.        At some time after its inception, ASIC made it a mandatory condition of holding an AFSL was membership of an AFSL.

3.        Since its inception many groups have applied to become an approved external resolution scheme, but they have all been rejected by ASIC.

4.         FICS has no power at law. Its only control over planners is they require FICS membership to hold an AFSL.

5.         A panel, consisting of three-members with the "appropriate" qualifications, judges each case. The names, and qualifications of the judging panel remain anonymous to both parties.

6.         The arbitration process is somewhat unusual in that the opposing parties never meet during the process. A three-person panel judges the case on the basis of hard copy material supplied by the participants.

7.         FICS charges the relevant AFSL holder $6,600 for each panel it convenes.

8.         The scheme operates on a set of defined rules. One set available to investors is on the FICS website. The other set, relating to members is not available to investors

9.         The current sets of rules for both investor and member has not been altered since 1999.

10.       Under the scheme there is no right of appeal.

11.       An investor forgoes the right to pursue all other avenues of recovery when they make a claim through FICS.

12.       An investor making a claim on FICS agrees not to discuss the case with anyone, or disclose the result afterward,

13.       The destruction of all records takes place at the end of a case.

14.       Although nowhere defined on the FICS website, the current limit and investor can claim is $100,000 per product.

15.       Again nowhere defined is the very peculiar rule that an investor can claim up to the limit on and investment of $100,000, but cannot make a claim if the original investment exceeds $100,000.

16.      Another undefined anomaly is the fact that if an investor say received $10,000 in interest on a $100,000 investment, then the maximum the can claim is $90,000! Just as mysterious as to why this impost was charge in the past, FICS are no longer charging it! FICS has been consistent in not explaining either decision!

 

It should be noted that is the system ASIC prefers above all other recovery methods by the investor. It says much about ASIC.

 

In recent times, many problems have arisen.

 

1.         The problem of limit goes back as far as 23/02/2007 when a meeting between WIG and ASIC, Jeff Lucy advised Westpoint investors the claim limit was less than $100, 000, and handed out a document to that effect. That meant if the investment was $100,000 then the investor could not make a claim. Presumably many investors, who were not WIG members, that went to ASIC would have been given this information. They would never have found out they could make a valid claim.

2.         FICS is taking an inordinate amount of time to process

3.         Some members who have received payment from FICS have had their claim reduced by the amount of interest received, and to date no effort has been made t compensate them.

4.         Planners have offered investors only a token amount of money with the blessing of FICS.

5.         In many cases FICS has found in favour of investors where the planner has left the industry or lost their AFSL for other reasons. In such a case the investor has no hope of getting their money.

6.        In a small number of cases the planner has simply refused to pay, and no action has been taken because FICS has no legal powers.

 

Peruse the full set of FICS rules, and see if you can make logical sense of them.