Industry and community involvement
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Resolving disputes gives BFSO a unique perspective on the nature of disputes that arise in the financial services sector. BFSO is committed to using this knowledge to contribute to raising industry standards, increasing the financial literacy of consumers and better informed policy outcomes for government, industry and the community.
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Presentations
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BFSO made 35 presentations to a wide range of industry, community and government groups including:
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- Asia Pacific Economic Forum
- Consumer Representatives’ Forum 2007
- Financial and Consumer Rights Council Inc (Victoria)
- Hunter Valley Project Financial Counselling Course
- Interbank Dispute Forum
- La Trobe University Law Faculty
- Meridian International School
- National Consumer Congress
- RMIT Diploma of Financial Services’ students
- Victorian Department of Justice ADR Strategic Planning Conference
- Victorian Law Foundation
- Victoria Legal Aid
- WA Financial Planners Association Conference
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Topics included:
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- Alternative Dispute Resolution
- EFT Code Workshop
- Financial Difficulty and Hardship
- Introduction to BFSO
- Maladministration in Lending
- Privacy
- Procedural Fairness
- Role of In-house Counsel
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Submissions
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BFSO provided submissions to the following enquiries over the course of the year:
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- Australian Law Reform Commission - Review of Privacy: Issues Paper 31 (Joint Submission by Alternative Dispute Resolution Schemes)
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- Australian Law Reform Commission - Review of Privacy (Credit Reporting) Issues Paper 32
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- Australian Securities and Investments Commission - EFT Code Review
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- Productivity Commission - Inquiry into the Consumer Policy Framework
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Bulletins
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BFSO produced four bulletins about its approach to emerging legal and industry practice issues. Topics included:
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- International Alternative Dispute Resolution Conference 2006
- Causes of systemic issues
- Common misunderstandings about legal rights
- and obligations
- Customers in financial difficulty: Code of Banking Practice and UCCC Obligations
- Privacy case studies on the National Privacy Principles and default and serious credit infringement listing
- Debt collection: dealing with bankrupt debtors
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Sort It
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This year BFSO reprinted its successful joint bulletin with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) entitled Sort It. This bulletin is based around a series of case studies involving problems experienced by young people with mobile phone, credit card and other debt. Sort It formed the basis of an interactive role play presentation to 185 Victorian secondary school students as part of Law Week on 16 May 2007. In addition, Sort It presentations were made to secondary school students in Morwell in Victoria as part of the Victorian Law Foundation’s Civics Roadshow and to participants at the National Youth Affairs Conference held in Melbourne on 3 May 2007.
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Website
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Our website contains important information about BFSO’s jurisdiction and processes. We received 128,991 hits to our website during the reporting period.
On our website you can find:
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- Information about how to lodge a dispute, including an online dispute form and jurisdiction checker
- Dispute resolution contacts for all of our members
- Our publications and media releases
- Case studies and sample findings
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Outreach to Aboriginal communities in New South Wales
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Over the past year, BFSO has participated in two programs organised primarily through the Anti-Discrimination Board and Office of Fair Trading NSW that provide outreach to Aboriginal communities in New South Wales: the Good Service and Do It Right forums.
The Good Service forums aim to inform communities about their rights and avenues of complaint to a range of services provided by Commonwealth and State Governments and private and public companies. BFSO participated in the Good Service forums in Condobolin and Bankstown alongside presenters from a range of other government agencies and Ombudsman schemes. We also attended Do It Right forums in Bega and Moruya, which included speakers from Legal Aid, the Anti-Discrimination Board, Department of Fair Trading, Australian Taxation Office and WorkCover NSW.
BFSO presentations at these forums aim to increase awareness of the Scheme and focus on issues that may be relevant to these communities, such as maladministration in granting credit (unsolicited increases in credit limits and personal loans for cars); financial difficulty; EFT disputes and the Centrelink
Code of Operation.
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