The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) is working out how to best offer guidance for firms on its approach and nature of systemic issues.
In a speech to members at the bi-annual forum, chief executive and chief ombudsman, David Locke, said the organisation had initiated a ‘transformation project’ to address AFCA’s role and how it could improve transparency and public reporting.
This was an issue raised in the Quality of Advice review submissions as advisers felt unsure of how AFCA judged complaints and whether it conflicted with guidance from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Locke said: “This project will focus our work to transition to a more proactive research and database approach to identifying potential systemic issues. We will develop better guidance for financial firms about AFCA’s approach and the nature of systemic issues and remediation work.
“We will improve transparency of the systemic issues and will work with the regulators and other agencies, particularly ASIC and the industry code compliance committees, to minimise any overlap and duplication of investigations and enhance appropriate two-way information sharing.”
AFCA said it would be engaging with ASIC to increase the visibility and clarity of in its role in managing systemic issues.
The CEO also stated AFCA had refreshed information on how it handled complaints, information on the independent assessor, steps to follow when lodging a complaint and frequently asked questions.
AFCA also noted the fall in the average time to resolve a dispute which was down from 76 days in the 2021 financial year to 72 this year. Earlier this month, the organisation released a data snapshot showing many complaints were received and how many were resolved after an independent review recommended the publication of this information.
“This is a great result and indicates AFCA’s recent work is having an impact on complaint closures and shows that members are continuing their efforts to resolve complaints in a timely manner as well,” Locke said.
