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In August 2003, the members of
the Scheme approved a major change to our Constitution enabling
non-banks to become members of the Scheme.
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To reflect the broadening of the
member base of the Scheme, the name has been changed from the
Australian Banking Industry Ombudsman Limited to the Banking
and Financial Services Ombudsman Limited (‘BFSO’).
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The BFSO website underwent
a major upgrade during the year. Consumers are now able to obtain
direct referral details for member banks’ internal dispute
resolution services, check whether their disputes are within
BFSO’s jurisdiction and lodge written disputes on-line.
The BFSO website statistics were enabled on 9 January 2003.
From 9 January 2003 to 30 June 2003 there were 18,838 hits to
the BFSO website.
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87.0 per cent of cases were resolved
promptly by the banks without the need for any significant involvement
by BFSO.
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Of the cases requiring investigation
during the year, the median number of days before cases were
allocated to case managers was 22. This was a significant decrease
in the median waiting time from the previous reporting period
which was 59 days.
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This year, 168 cases were resolved
after BFSO facilitated a settlement between the parties and
37 cases were resolved after a conciliation conference was conducted
by the Ombudsman. This represents an increase in negotiated
outcomes for the parties on the previous year, where 140 cases
were resolved through a facilitated settlement and 14 cases
were resolved after a conciliation conference.
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The establishment of the Banking
Insurance Investment Assist joint telephone referral centre
at the end of the previous reporting year has resulted in a
more efficient BFSO telephone service, with an increase in the
number of calls answered immediately of 20.1 per cent from the
previous year.
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BFSO has been actively
involved in the consultation process with the Australian Bankers’
Association and other stakeholders regarding the implementation
of the new Code of Banking Practice.
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BFSO conducted its fourth
annual members’ conference. 140 delegates attended the
conference where the Ombudsman, his staff and guest speakers
provided participants with up-to-date information about changes,
trends and issues affecting the industry and dispute resolution
in particular. Delegates participated in a number of case studies
and discussed the various approaches of the office of the Ombudsman
in resolving these matters. |
