New financial complaints body receives over 6500 grievances in first month

A new financial complaints authority says it has received more than 6500 complaints in its first month of operation.

The chief ombudsman and CEO of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority has received over 6500 complaints in its first month of operation, up 47 per cent compared to those filed to its three predecessor bodies.

The authority, which is comprised of the former Financial Ombudsman Service, the Credit and Investments Ombudsman and the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal, said it’s currently investigating 84 systemic issues and 4 potential serious contraventions and other breaches.

“Systemic issues are identified in a complaint or several complaints, and have an effect on people beyond the parties to a complaint,” chief ombudsman David Locke said.

“Because of this, we take our responsibility to identify and investigate systemic issues very seriously.

“Financial firms should be in no doubt that we will be referring and reporting these to the appropriate regulator.”

Mr Locke said 15 per cent of complaints the authority has received since opening its doors on November 1 had already been finalised.

“AFCA provides quick and easy access to fair resolutions,” he said.

“This is part of our role in rebuilding trust in the financial services sector.”

Eighty per cent of complaints were lodged online, Mr Locke said.

AFCA said that 45 per cent of the complaints it’s received have been about credit and 21 per cent have been about general insurance.

Ten per cent were about deposit taking and 8 per cent were about superannuation.

While most complaints were lodged by individual consumers, 460 complaints were lodged by small businesses, AFCA said.

Mr Locke said the number of complaints received was in line with what the authority was expecting.

“We want to make sure that members of the public know where to go for help when they have a financial complaint they can’t resolve directly with their financial firm,” Mr Locke said.

Banks were the most complained about provider type, followed by general insurers and credit providers.

Complaints were commonly about decisions made by financials firms, including issues relating to denial of insurance claims and responsible lending.

Service issues, such as service quality, delay in claim handling or delay in complaint handling, were the second most complained about issue.

“Our streamlined processes and systems have dealt well with the level of calls and complaints received,” Mr Locke said.