Amendments to Current Terms of Reference

The Financial Ombudsman Service is approved to operate as an external dispute resolution (EDR) scheme under ASIC’s Regulatory Guide 139 (RG 139). To retain our approval, we have to ensure that our Constitution and TOR comply with RG 139 as revised from time to time.

Amendments commencing 1 July 2010

ASIC revised RG 139 on 7 May 2010. To comply with the revised version of RG 139, we have had to amend paragraph 6 of the TOR effective 1 July 2010.

Amendments commencing 1 January 2012

ASIC revised RG 139 on 20 April 2011 to set out its requirements for EDR schemes dealing with disputes about traditional trustee company services  (“TTCS”). To comply with the revised version of RG 139, we have had to amend the TOR effective 1 July 2012 as follows:

• Separate IDR time frame for TTCS disputes;
• Modification of some of the exclusions, to ensure they apply appropriately to TTCS;
• A set of procedures (“Section F”)  to deal with disputes against trustee companies where they also affect other parties (e.g. other beneficiaries of the trust or estate which the dispute is about), where all parties consent to FOS dealing with the dispute;
• Ability to deal with disputes against joint trustees, not all of whom are FOS members, provided all co-trustees consent.

In addition, there have been minor amendments to clarify FOS’ jurisdiction to consider disputes regarding cross-border investments (where an overseas collective investment scheme is offered to investors in Australia, or an Australian managed investment scheme is offered to Australian investors).

A copy of the TOR effective 1 January 2012, including these changes, can be found here.

Table of Amendments to the Terms of Reference

A table of amendments to the Terms of Reference up to 1 January 2012 can be found here.