Ombudsman Foreword Highlights Telephone Service New Disputes Dispute Resolution Process Closed Cases Types of Disputes Systemic Issues Case Studies Complete Annual Report
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 | | | BFSO's workload in relation to systemic issues increased with a total of 27 investigations being conducted during the year in review. Of these, 2 issues were determined not to be systemic, 11 issues were determined to be systemic and were resolved to the satisfaction of BFSO and 14 investigations were on-going at the end of the period.
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| Identification of Systemic Issues
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| BFSO staff are encouraged to identify potential systemic problems and report them to the systemic issues manager. Potential issues are identified when:
| | Case officers notice a number of disputes about the same issue;
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| | Case officers or reviewing legal counsel believe that an issue raised in a single dispute could affect other customers in a similar way to the disputant; or
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| | A disputant claims that the issue they have raised in their complaint is systemic in nature.
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| Investigation and Resolution
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| The systemic issues manager conducts a preliminary investigation to determine whether the issue is likely to have affected, or have the potential to affect, other consumers in addition to those who have complained to BFSO. The investigation into the systemic issue identifies:
| | the acts or omissions of the financial services provider;
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| | the affected customer group; and
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| | the formula or approach to calculate the financial loss of the customer group.
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| After consultation with legal counsel and the Ombudsman there are generally two limbs to the resolution of any systemic issue:
| | Ensuring that the problem is fixed at its source; and
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| | Ensuring that customers who have been disadvantaged financially as a result of the problem are appropriately compensated.
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| | A disputant claims that the issue they have raised in their complaint is systemic in nature.
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