ANZ revamps dispute practice

ANZ will formalise new dispute resolution principles for matters involving individuals and small business.

ANZ’s deputy chief executive Alexis George

ANZ will formalise new dispute resolution principles for matters involving individuals and small business as it seeks to reduce customer complaints and handle the fallout from the Hayne royal commission.

The 15 general rules — which do not cover class actions or other legal cases involving groups — will be made public today. They include principles such as don’t defend the indefensible, be even handed, take quick action, assess ANZ’s position early and only litigate where there is no reasonable alternative.

ANZ’s deputy chief executive Alexis George told The Australian the move to document the principles publicly was an “important step” for the bank to ensure they “cascade through” its staff and legal firms.

“It has been a catalyst for discussion and we just didn’t talk about this internally,” Ms ­George said.

“It will be an opportunity for customers to hold us to account.”

But asked whether ANZ’s principles such as “listen intently, apologise, follow through and rectify errors” were just commonsense, Ms George said it was important to have a blueprint that was not written from a legal perspective.

She added that while there were no specific accountability measures for the principles, they would form part of an overall performance assessment, particularly if they were “blatantly ignored”.

“The principles also sit within our values, which people are assessed on,” Ms George said, adding that banks had to show customers they were “listening” individually and as an industry.

Colin Neave, ANZ’s customer fairness adviser who reports to chief executive Shayne Elliott, took the lead in formulating the principles.

The document becomes public after ANZ and its rivals admitted to a sharp jump in complaints since November.

At a parliamentary committee hearing in March, Ms George said ANZ had received 1400 complaints via the Australian Financial Complaints Authority since it started to operate in November. That number had reduced to 650 outstanding at the end of February.

Mr Elliott told the same committee he believed the spike in complaints was “largely an awareness issue” as customers became more aware of AFCA and digested the royal commission hearings of last year.

The federal government has already made it mandatory, via legislation, that financial firms co-operate with AFCA to resolve complaints.

ANZ’s new principles, which ask staff and law firms to take extra care, particularly if the customer is “vulnerable” and may require financial assistance to get their own legal advice, also aligns with the bank’s guarantee to act as a model litigant in legal cases.

Ms George said the new dispute principles “should apply” to longstanding disputes against ANZ and that Mr Neave had met with those customers.