•    Of the more than 35,000 financial firms required to join the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, all but a few licensed financial firms have now joined the scheme. Most of the more than 300 laggards are owned by credit licensees who were previously members of the Credit and Investments Ombudsman, according to ASIC. Credit licensees and credit representatives who are required to join AFCA should have done so by 21 September 2018.  AFCA will start accepting consumer complaints from 1 November 2018.