Ausiex fee charges & change in process

Since August last year, following an amendment to its agreement with our AFSL, AUSIEX has been passing on certain fees that it had historically either charged directly to clients or absorbed itself. In most cases these amounts are relatively small, generally only a few cents or dollars.

Over the past year, these deductions have been treated as a type of commission clawback, and have been recovered through the quarterly commission rebate process. The problem with this is that most of the clients to whom these fees relate are not otherwise receiving commission rebates. This results in a negative amount payable by the client, creating confusion for them when/if they receive the commission rebate activity statement, and unnecessary administrative work for everyone involved.

CARs have been dealing with these fees in different ways. Some have simply absorbed the cost, some have increased their ongoing client fees to recover the additional expense, and others have sought reimbursement from clients on an ad hoc basis. Consistently, though, those of you that I’ve spoken to about them have said that they are difficult to manage and reconcile, and we have experienced the same difficulties.

As these amounts are not commission clawbacks at all, but rather fees charged by the provider, effective from the current quarter commencing 1 July 2026, these charges will no longer be treated as commission clawbacks. Instead, they will be classified as fee adjustments. They will be processed as fee reimbursements through the monthly pay reports, rather than the quarterly commission rebate process, and will remove the intermingling with rebateable commissions. We expect it will make both processes simpler and easier to administer.

As is the case presently, you are free to decide whether and how you wish to recover these costs from your clients. To assist you, a report identifying the relevant charges will be included with your monthly fee reports, in much the same way as the Ezidebit fee report is currently provided.

If you choose not to recover these charges from your clients, that is entirely your decision. However, it is worth considering why your practice would absorb what are, in effect, your client's bank fees.

Where applicable, this change will first be reflected in your July fee report, which will be issued in early August, and if you have any questions in the meantime please get in touch to admin@ifa-aust.com.au.