More than 400,000 complaints taken to AFCA since its inception

Australia’s financial dispute resolution scheme has reached a major milestone – five years of operation. Consumers have taken more than 400,000 disputes to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) in that time, securing a total of $1.2 billion in compensation and refunds. 

Since starting operations in November 2018, AFCA has worked with more than 16,500 victims of scams, more than 7,500 people affected by natural disasters (excluding COVID), and more than 30,000 people experiencing financial difficulty. It registered more than 17,000 COVID-related complaints, helping to resolve disputes involving financial products such as travel insurance and superannuation. 

In addition, AFCA’s systemic issues work – where it identifies wider issues than a single complaint – resulted in 4.9 million people receiving more than $340 million. 

“We have dealt with hundreds of thousands of cases over the past five years, but we are fully aware that behind every complaint is an individual, a family or small business,” AFCA’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Ombudsman, David Locke, said.  

“We know how stressful a financial dispute can be, and how critical it is to help consumers and firms resolve their differences. 

“An ombudsman service also plays an important role in supporting public confidence in engaging with the financial services sector, because we are here to help when consumers and firms can’t resolve disputes on their own. We work to contribute to a fair and efficient financial services sector.” 

Complaints to AFCA reached a record high of 97,000 in the last financial year. Over its first five years AFCA resolved 60% of cases in less than 60 days – mostly by helping the two sides reach agreement. Only 6% of cases needed to progress to a formal decision. 

AFCA was set up after the 2017 Ramsay Review recommended the establishment of a single scheme to handle disputes formerly handled by the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Credit and Investments Ombudsman and the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal. 

Since inception, AFCA has achieved the following:  

• 402,346 complaints registered 
• $1.18 billion in compensation or refunds for consumers and small businesses 
• 68% of complaints resolved by agreement 
• 6% of cases progressed to a formal decision 
• 46,097 members of AFCA Scheme (10,494 firms plus 35,603 individual authorised credit representatives) 
• 69% of financial firm members have not had a complaint made against them.