Continued increase in disputes

In the first five months of 2009, the Financial Ombudsman Service has continued to see significant increases in the number of new disputes coming in. We experienced an overall average 43.8% rise in new disputes across our different groups to 31 May 2009, compared to the same period in 2008. This includes substantial rises in new disputes within Investments, Life Insurance & Superannuation (72.1%) and Banking & Finance (50.7%), as well as a 6.3% rise in new General Insurance disputes.

The most significant rises were in financial planning, managed investments, housing finance and home insurance (both building and contents).

As the troublesome global financial circumstances continue, I would again ask all financial services providers to continue to invest in your staff and your own internal dispute resolution systems so that you can respond to complaints effectively and so minimise the number of disputes which come to us.

 

Successful National Conference

On 11-12 June our inaugural National Conference was held at Crown Promenade Hotel and I am pleased to report it was a great success. It was terrific to see so many of you there, with over 400 attendees (including some staff). I hope it provided some insight and understanding into the Financial Ombudsman Service and the broad industry that we all work together in.

The theme of our conference was Financial Services - The Changing Landscape and we were very fortunate to have an excellent program of presenters, including representatives from industry, government, regulatory agencies and the consumer movement.

We were particularly pleased to have the newly appointed Assistant Treasurer Senator the Hon. Nick Sherry in what appears to have been his first public event in his new role. He spoke about the government’s enthusiasm for the merger of the predecessor schemes into the Financial Ombudsman Service and that this had proceeded smoothly and efficiently for consumers and members. He provided a brief update on the new legislation designed to streamline the regulation of credit and margin lending both of which have an impact on the role and jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service.

A key aspect of the programme was to highlight the diverse points of view operating in the financial services industry which create a healthy tension. It is the role of the Financial Ombudsman Service to understand these views and to take an impartial and balanced approach to the issues as they affect dispute resolution.

There was considerable comment about the impact of the global financial crisis on ordinary Australians. Consumer advocacy groups and financial counsellors reported high workloads. Member and industry representatives provided insights into the many well developed approaches being taken to assist those in financial difficulty as well as identifying opportunities to do more in certain sectors of the financial services industry.

The responses from feedback forms have been positive and helpful. We will use them to inform our development of future events such as this.

For those of you who weren’t able to attend the conference, and those who wish to revisit some presentations, many of the presentations can be found on our website. 

 

New Board

On 28 April 2009 a special Board meeting was held to elect the new Financial Ombudsman Service Board. At this meeting, Professor the Hon Michael Lavarch was appointed as Chair of the Board, taking the baton from Peter E Daly AM who has retired from the position of Chair. You can see the members of our new Board here.

On behalf of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Michael as our new Chair and to thank Peter for his enormous contribution to our organisation, especially his role in guiding us through our recent amalgamation.

 

Farewell Sam

Sam Parrino, Ombudsman – General Insurance, has resigned from the Financial Ombudsman Service. Sam spent 16 years building the Insurance Enquiries & Complaints Ltd/Insurance Ombudsman Service into a leading dispute resolution service and worked hard to help us create the Financial Ombudsman Service over the last year. He has now decided to further his career interests outside of the Financial Ombudsman Service. We are grateful to Sam for his hard work and dedication over the years and wish him well in his future endeavours.

On an interim basis, I have assumed responsibility for the role of Ombudsman – General Insurance, ably assisted by senior management in the General Insurance group. It has been business as usual and we have now advertised the role with a view to finding a new Ombudsman within the next three months.

 

International Ombudsman Conference

The International Network of Financial Services Ombudsman conference took place in June and I have now been appointed the chair of the international network which supports the development of best practice in external dispute resolution.

 

Colin Neave Chief Ombudsman

eNews June 2009     >> Page 2