<p><strong>The <a href=”http://www.moneymanagement.com.au/tag/financial-ombudsman-service”>Financial Ombudsman Service</a> (FOS) has announced a three-year strategic plan that aims to improve customer service, build trust and run the organisation more efficiently.</strong></p>
<p>The FOS said the agenda will be led by <a href=”http://www.moneymanagement.com.au/news/appointments/2012/fos-outlines-team-expansion;-board-changes”>its new senior management group, as announced in June</a>.</p>
<p>In addition to its core work of resolving disputes, the FOS said it will aim to engage more actively with key stakeholders, including implementing new consumer sector and member engagement strategies, and to enhance its organisational capabilities. </p>
<p>This will involve building on its secure services platform, which enables electronic communication with stakeholders and investing more in staff training through the organisation's Learning Pathways program, the FOS stated.</p>
<p>The ombudsman said it aimed to set and meet time and service standards for all dispute resolution processes, actively meet with and maintain the support of all stakeholders, routinely seek stakeholder feedback and act on it, and attract and develop skilled and engaged staff.</p>
<p>The initial one-year focus would be on improving efficiency, including a plan to deal with spikes in demand; improving stakeholder engagement, including improved engagement with the consumer sector; and ensuring organisational development and sustainability, involving the development of a robust internal risk function and further developing IT capabilities.</p>
<p>The strategy was announced in response to a variety of factors – including the global financial crisis and natural disasters – that have seen the number of disputes received by the FOS increase dramatically over the four years since its inception and 21 per cent over the 2011-12 financial year alone.</p>
<p>Changes already implemented by the FOS include the addition of more case managers, a revamping of its dispute process to focus on early agreements, providing more data to financial services providers and improving consumer engagement, according to the FOS.</p>
<p>The ombudsman said it has also increased resourcing of its systemic issues function, consolidated its code monitoring function and reviewed front and back end services to focus on efficiency.</p>
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