InterPrac facing more than 400 AFCA complaints

Moving away from its usual process, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has released complaints data for not just the second half of the 2024-25 financial year but also provided the details for July and August this year.

Topping the list for the combined period within the financial advice sector is United Global Capital (UGC), which had seen a flurry of complaints ahead of its membership of the complaints scheme being terminated on 31 May.

Following AFCA reinstating its membership last week for a further six months due to the potential that First Guardian Master Fund investors missed their opportunity to complain, that number will likely climb in coming months.

Also seeing a significant number of complaints is Sequoia subsidiary InterPrac Financial Planning, which has taken a significant hit over the first two months of FY26.

During FY25, the licensee saw 125 complaints, putting it firmly in second place for most advice complaints over the period, however the two months that followed have seen 298 complaints made against it, taking the total over 14 months to 423.

The significant ramp up in complaint volumes is unlikely to abate as numbers are released for subsequent months, with InterPrac having significant exposure to the Shield and First Guardian collapses through its former authorised representatives Venture Egg, Reilly Financial, and Miller Wealth Group.

In Sequoia’s full-year results announcement in early August, the firm said there had been a total of $22 million in complaints against InterPrac relating to Shield and First Guardian.

“This represents InterPrac’s potential exposure prior to any assessment of the merits of each complaint, and before consideration of any recoveries or offsets,” Sequoia said at the time.

With the claim number already growing from this point, that figure could be considerably higher before even considering any of the other thousands of potential client complaints related to the fund failures.

Other licensees caught up in the Shield and First Guardian scandal also feature on the new release, with Financial Services Group Australia receiving 97 complaints and MWL Financial Services seeing 70 across the combined 14-month period.

The AFCA Datacube would normally only updated and is now current to 31 August 2025.

From October 2025, the AFCA Datacube will be update every six months, however the complaints authority announced on Wednesday that it had moved to monthly releases.

“The change will provide more timely insights for consumers, small businesses, and financial firms,” AFCA said.

“AFCA’s Datacube is an interactive public database of complaints about financial firms and includes all firms that received four or more complaints in the past 12 months. The information supports AFCA’s vision of an Australia free from financial disputes by sharing transparent and accessible data.

“It helps member firms benchmark their performance and enables consumers and small businesses to make informed choices about financial products and services.”