About Us

Independent dispute resolution services for the vast majority of Australian banking, insurance and investment disputes are now available under one roof. On 1 July 2008, the Banking & Financial Services Ombudsman (BFSO), Financial Industry Complaints Service (FICS) and Insurance Ombudsman Service (IOS) merged to form the national Financial Ombudsman Service. Financial Ombudsman Service dispute resolution services are free to consumers.

This independent umpire provides free, fair and accessible dispute resolution for consumers and some small businesses unable to resolve a dispute directly with their financial services provider. External dispute resolution processes can help to resolve disputes through negotiation or conciliation as an alternative to court proceedings and can make decisions which are binding on participating financial services providers.

The Financial Ombudsman Service helps to increase public awareness and access to external dispute resolution processes for consumers by providing a single national service for banking, insurance and investment disputes in Australia. Membership of the Financial Ombudsman Service is open to any financial services provider carrying on business in Australia.

Financial Ombudsman Service independent dispute resolution processes cover complaints about financial services including banking, credit, loans, general insurance, life insurance, financial planning, investments, stock broking, managed funds and pooled superannuation trusts. The merging of separate schemes to establish the Financial Ombudsman Service follows calls for greater accessibility and public awareness. Merging of these schemes enables efficient use of resources, cross-fertilisation of expertise and more accessible dispute resolution processes.

Current rules for dispute resolution processes will continue during a 12 to 18 month transition period, while the Financial Ombudsman Service conducts an exhaustive national Terms of Reference Consultation to establish a single set of rules, procedures and definitions for financial services disputes in Australia by 1 January 2010.

The Financial Ombudsman Service can be contacted nationally on 1300 78 08 08.