In the month of November, its first month of operation, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) received a total of 6,522 complaints from consumers and small businesses, which it stated is a 47 per cent increase from its three predecessor schemes combined.
Most of the complaints AFCA has received have been about credit at 45 per cent, general insurance at 21 per cent and deposit taking at 10 per cent. Further, 8 per cent of the complaints received were about superannuation.
Out of the complaints received about superannuation, incorrect fees and costs received the highest number of complaints, with 78 complaints made for this category, followed by account administration errors with 38 complaints made.
The other categories included in the top five complaints for superannuation related to death benefit distribution, delay in claim handling and claim amount.
The top complaints for investments were inappropriate advice, incorrect fees and costs, service quality, failure to act in the client’s best interests and failure to follow instructions or agreement.
AFCA chief executive and chief ombudsman David Locke said that 15 per cent of the complaints received in November have now been finalised.
AFCA is currently investigating 84 definite systemic issues and four 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. Because of this, we take our responsibility to identify and investigate systemic issues very seriously,” Mr Locke explained.
“Financial firms should be in no doubt that we will be referring and reporting these to the appropriate regulator.”
