Following industry concern over the expanded jurisdiction granted to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) by ASIC last month, the body has reshuffled its executive team to better drill down on fairness.
Dr June Smith has been promoted to deputy chief ombudsman from her previous role as lead ombudsman of superannuation, advice, investments and life insurance. One of her first projects will be to oversee AFCA’s Fairness Project.
“Fairness underpins everything we do and how stakeholders perceive us and our role in complaints resolution,” she said.
“Work has already commenced on a new Fairness Project to investigate how we can ensure AFCA decisions are made fairly and to identify a framework for confirming that complaints are consistently resolved in a way that is fair, efficient, timely and independent.”
FBAA managing director Peter White was among those alarmed by the announcement that Australian consumers and small businesses harmed by financial misconduct are now able to retroactively lodge complaints dating back to 1 January 2008.
White called on AFCA “to step up to the plate” and clearly communicate how their decisions will be generated moving forward.
“That transparency has got to play out so we’re all confident in the fairness of how determinations are going to be made,” he said.
According to AFCA chief executive and chief ombudsman, David Locke, Smith has a “proven track record” at both AFCA and its predecessor schemes.
“June is well recognised for her work developing codes of practice to improve customer outcomes, along with her efforts in promoting professional standards and business ethics in the financial advice industry,” he said.
AFCA also announced the promotion of Evelyn Halls to lead ombudsman of banking and finance.
“Evelyn has demonstrated a strong commitment to fairness and justice throughout her career,” said Locke.
“[She] is a proactive and customer-focused leader and will ensure AFCA continues to deliver justice for consumers and increase transparency in the banking and finance sector.”
