ASIC has taken action against the financial firm

The Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) cancelled Berndale Capital Securities Pty Ltd’s (Berndale) Australian Financial Services Licence (290108) (AFSL) in November 2018. Berndale has appealed the cancellation of its AFSL with the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

See ASIC’s Nov 2018 media release

On 5 December 2018 ASIC obtained freezing orders from the Federal Court against Berndale, its associated entities, and Mr Stavro D’Amore. This means Berndale’s bank accounts are now frozen and it is unable to sell or otherwise deal with its property without ASIC’s consent.

See ASIC's Dec 2018 freezing orders media release 

Liquidators have been appointed

On 18 April 2019 the Federal Court appointed Rachel Burdett-Baker and Bruno Secatore of Cor Cordis as Receivers and Managers of Berndale.

On 11 October 2019 the Federal Court appointed Rachel Burdett-Baker and Bruno Secatore of Cor Cordis as Liquidators of Berndale.

See ASIC’s Apr 2019 appointment of receivers media release and the accompanying editor’s note regarding liquidation.

At this stage, we understand it is unlikely that Berndale investors will have all their funds returned. It is too early to estimate the amount of funds that might be returned to each investor. 

You may contact the Liquidators directly if you have any questions about their role. If you have correspondence or information that may assist the Liquidators, you should provide this to them as soon as possible. The relevant contact is:

Ms Catherine Torres
Director
Cor Cordis
PO Box 232
Collins Street West
Melbourne, VIC  
+61 3 8320 5600
ctorres@corcordis.com.au

What this may mean for complaints

From April 2020, AFCA paused complaints against insolvent financial firms financial firms while awaiting detail of the scope and timing of a Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR).

On 16 July 2021 the Federal Government released the exposure draft legislation to establish the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR).

The establishment of the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort will support ongoing confidence in the financial system’s dispute resolution framework by facilitating the payment of compensation to eligible consumers who have received a determination for compensation from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) which remains unpaid.

Complaints against insolvent financial firms and other complaints that were on pause while awaiting the introduction of CSLR will continue to be paused and will be assessed once the legislation has come into effect.

AFCA will only be able to fully assess the impact of the CSLR to a complaint when details of the scheme are finalised and legislated by the Government. We will review all relevant complaints as soon as that occurs.

AFCA will contact all parties to discuss the status of paused complaint after that assessment is completed.

Read more at afca.org.au/CSLR.

We will keep you updated

AFCA will keep you up to date as we become aware of new information about Berndale that may affect complaints. Please check this webpage regularly.

Any questions?

If you have any questions or want more information about lodging a complaint, please

call: 1800 931 678
email: info@afca.org.au