Closed cases

Closed cases

A total of 6,336 cases were closed during the year, an increase of 4.9 per cent from the previous year.

Click here to view the 5 year trend of closed cases.

Discontinued cases

Of the 6,336 closed cases, 1,245 were discontinued. Discontinued cases are considered to be within Terms of Reference but do not proceed to a conclusion about the merits of the case. There are a variety of reasons for a case being discontinued. The reasons for discontinuing these cases were that:

The dispute was sent to BFSO and the member at the same time, and the member resolved the matter without BFSO’s involvement;
The disputant did not respond to BFSO’s request for additional information or return the appropriate authority;
The disputant’s claim against the member was unable to be established; or
The disputant accepted BFSO’s view that the member’s response to the dispute was appropriate.

Of the 1,245 discontinued cases, 832 cases were discontinued prior to referral to a member.

The number of cases that were discontinued after referral to a member was 413, almost twice that of the previous year. This increase is largely due to 194 discontinued cases which related to a single issue with a member. The issue was whether the introduction of a new fee on a particular type of account was contrary to the advertising and promotion of the account. Although many customers complained about the introduction of the fee, BFSO determined that the member was entitled to introduce the fee and the customers’ claims that the product’s advertising was misleading could not be established.

Cases outside Terms of Reference

Of the 6,336 closed cases, 1,191 were considered to be outside the Ombudsman’s Terms of Reference (OTR).

If it is clear from the consumer’s correspondence that the dispute is OTR we write to the consumer to explain why the matter is OTR and refer the consumer to the customer relations department of the member or to a more appropriate forum.

If there is any doubt about jurisdiction, the dispute is referred to the member by BFSO.
Further information about OTR disputes is provided in the Disputes we can’t consider section of this report.

Early resolution

Of the 3,900 cases where an outcome was determined by BFSO, 93.6 per cent were resolved early by the member, an increase from 91.6 per cent in the previous year.

The 3651 early resolution cases did not involve a BFSO investigation. However, in 11.9 per cent of these cases, BFSO facilitated the resolution by writing to the member and/or the consumer to point out unresolved questions in order to facilitate a settlement. Click here to view the 5 year trend of early resolution rates

Investigations

The 249 cases that were not resolved at the early resolution stage were investigated by BFSO. There is usually a waiting period between when a dispute is determined to be unresolved and when a case manager is available to commence the investigation. This year, the median number of days before cases were allocated to case managers was 35.

There are various options for resolving disputes in investigation and the method chosen will depend largely on the complexity of the issues raised, the expectations of the parties and their willingness to compromise. This year:

85 investigations were closed after BFSO facilitated a settlement between the parties;
7 cases were closed after a conciliation conference was held by the Ombudsman; and
102 cases were closed after the parties were provided with a Finding, which is a written assessment of the merits of the dispute issued by a case manager.

Where the consumer or member rejects a Finding, the dispute is referred to the Ombudsman for his consideration. The Ombudsman then issues a Recommendation on how the dispute should be resolved. This year 35 per cent of Findings were rejected and referred to the Ombudsman. These cases were closed after Recommendations were issued.

The Case Studies section of this report provides examples of the various resolution methods being applied to cases.

Outcome of closed investigations

In the 249 cases closed after a Finding, Negotiated Settlement, Conciliation Conference or Recommendation, the outcomes were as follows:

The member’s actions were considered correct
in 32.9 per cent of cases;
The consumer’s claim was upheld in 18.5 per cent of cases; and
In 48.6 per cent of cases, the outcome was a compromise benefiting both parties.

Case resolution time

The resolution time is the period of time between the date the dispute is referred to the member and the date it is closed. This includes the 30 day appeal period after a Finding is issued during which the case is said to be provisionally closed.

Of the cases referred to members during the year, 54.1 per cent were closed within 60 days, an improvement on the previous year in which 53.4 per cent of cases were closed within 60 days. This is the fourth consecutive year in which there has been an improvement in the number of cases closed within 60 days. The median number of days to resolve all cases referred to members remained consistent at 58 days.

There has also been a reduction in the number of cases that took over 181 days to close, with the figure decreasing from 8.7 per cent last year to 8.0 per cent. These cases represent complex unresolved disputes that require detailed investigation by BFSO. The Scheme will continue its efforts to improve efficiency in this area in the year ahead.

Case resolution time:

Click here to view a table detailing a 3-year comparison of time taken to resolve disputes

Member statistics

Click here to view a table detailing the dispute resolution statistics for each member of the Scheme which had a dispute referred to it during the reporting period. The table only includes those disputes which came within the Scheme’s Terms of Reference and were not discontinued. The provision of this information reflects BFSO’s commitment to independence and transparency.

Readers should keep in mind the following points to avoid forming inaccurate views about the dispute resolution performance of any member:

Members have vastly different market shares. A large number of disputes lodged against a particular member may reflect these differences in customer base size rather than the member’s performance;
Some figures will include disputes lodged against a member’s related bodies corporate. Some members, however, have few or no related bodies corporate; and
Some figures may reflect the length of time that the financial institution has been a member of the Scheme. Members can join the Scheme at any stage during the year, and some may only have joined shortly before the end of year.

The table has three columns which shows for each member:

The number of disputes within Terms of Reference that were closed during the year in review, excluding cases that were discontinued;
The percentage of disputes resolved by each member at an early resolution stage, which did not require an investigation by BFSO; and
The median number of days to resolve the cases at the early resolution stage. This is measured from the date a case was referred to the member to the date on which the case was closed (including the 30 day appeal period).

The table lists members in alphabetical order.