Closed cases
|
A total of 6,349 cases were closed during the year,
an increase of 0.2 per cent from the previous year.
View the Closed cases graph
|
Cases outside Terms of Reference
|
Of the 6,349 closed cases, 1,162 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.
Further information about OTR disputes is provided in the Disputes we can’t consider section of this report.
|
Discontinued cases
|
Of the 6,349 closed cases, 1,228 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 including:
|
- 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 1,228 discontinued cases, 1,022 cases were discontinued prior to referral to a member.
The number of cases that were discontinued after referral to the member was 206, almost half that of the previous year at 413. This decrease is largely due to 194 discontinued cases which related to a single issue with a member in the 2006 year.
|
Early resolution
|
Of the 3,959 cases where an outcome was determined by BFSO, 3,698 or 93.4 per cent were resolved early by the member (ie prior to a BFSO investigation). This is consistent with the previous year at 93.6 per cent. These early resolution cases did not involve a detailed BFSO investigation. However, in 476 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.
|
View the Early resolution rates graph
|
 |
|
Investigations
|
The 261 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 41.
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:
|
- 90 investigations were closed after BFSO facilitated a settlement between the parties;
- 8 cases were closed after a conciliation conference was held by the Ombudsman; and
- 110 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 32.5 per cent of Findings were rejected and referred to the Ombudsman, a slight decrease from last year at 35 per cent. 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.
|
View the Outcomes of 261 cases investigated excluding DIS and OTR graph
|
Outcome of Closed Investigations
|
This year we have improved the way that we report on the outcome of closed investigations to more accurately reflect the actual outcomes.
The new reporting method sets out the numbers of claims where compensation was awarded to the disputant and the numbers of claims where that compensation was monetary, non-monetary or both monetary and non-monetary. The most common example of non-monetary compensation is having a credit-reporting listing removed or amended.
Of the 261 cases closed after a Finding, conciliation conference or Recommendation:
|
- 81 cases resulted in no compensation being awarded to the disputant;
- 159 resulted in monetary compensation to the disputant;
- 6 resulted in non-monetary compensation to the disputant; and
- 15 resulted in both monetary and non-monetary compensation being awarded to the disputant.
|
|
|
|
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, 53.9 per cent were closed within 60 days, a slight decrease compared to the previous year in which 54.1 per cent of cases were closed within 60 days. The median number of days to resolve all cases referred to members was slightly less than last year at 57 days.
There was also a slight increase in the number of cases that took over 181 days to close, with the figure increasing from 8.0 per cent last year to 8.4 per cent. These cases represent complex unresolved disputes that require detailed investigation by BFSO and this year BFSO has also seen an increase in the number of more complex cases. However, the Scheme will continue its efforts to improve efficiency in this area in the year ahead.
Case resolution time – 3-year comparison of time taken to resolve disputes (%)
|
View the Case resolution time – 3-year comparison of time taken to resolve disputes graph
|
Member statistics
|
The following table sets out 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 publication of this information reflects BFSO’s continuing commitment to transparency and independence.
Readers should note 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 show 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).
|
|
View the Cases closed graph
|
|
|
