The company collapsed in March 2022, leaving 14,500 customers an estimated A$66 million out of pocket in what was described by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a "slow-moving disaster" and "one of the most egregious examples of consumer harm in Australia's history".
[2] In 1992, UK-born businessman Ron Pattenden and Armidale-based healthcare workers Dudley Duncan and Richard Widders came up with the idea of an insurance fund that would cover the cost of its members' funerals.
[3] In 1999, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) launched legal action against ACBF, alleging they had been "unconscionable, misleading and deceptive" to Indigenous customers.
[4] In September 2018, ACBF was "slammed" by the interim report of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry for potentially misleading Indigenous customers.
[3] The Guardian alleged that Pattenden employed a complex web of offshore companies to make over $20m in tax-free profit from ACBF's customers.