The Australia Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has added six new faces to their team of ombudsmen, with two very well known faces to the broker channel appointed.
Louise McAuliffe, a former Head of Legal, Lending Services at ANZ, will take up a role on the Banking and Finance team at AFCA. She is currently the legal lead on the Dispute Resolution Group at the Big Four bank. She has been at ANZ for nearly 15 years and was a vital part of their work regarding the Royal Commission into the banking sector.
She will be joined by James Taylor, the current Practice Leader, Business Lending Legal, at Westpac, who oversees compliance in the SME section of their business. He has been at the bank since 2017 and was previously Head Counsel at Rabobank.
The two are joined by a third lawyer, David Short, who is Head of Legal, Risk and Compliance at insurance firm BizCover.
The regulator has also promoted three figures to the status of Ombudsman: Vicki Carter and Mervyn Silverstein on the superannuation side, Shail Singh on the Investment side and Christine McCarthy on the Insurance side.
“It’s terrific that we have been able to secure such skilled and experienced people,” said Deputy Chief Ombudsman June Smith. “Our internal promotions are also testament to the strength of talent already here at AFCA.”
