AFCA Averaging 5900 Complaints Per Month

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has recently released a snapshot of statistics following their first 5 months of operation.

The release of these statistics follows an article, 'Appalling Treatment': Bank Customers Making 5,900 Complaints a Month in the Sydney Morning Herald where the Chair of AFCA, Helen Coonan said in a speech allegedly seen by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, "Poor culture in financial institutions has been identified as the main culprit that permitted a slew of bad practices, appalling treatment of consumers and small businesses, and in many cases arrogant indifference to regulatory and compliance risk. Now almost seven months old, AFCA is playing an important part in restoring shattered community trust and confidence in the financial services sector."

The statistics show that between 01/11/0218 and 31/03/2019 AFCA -

• Received 29,873 complaints (closing 55% as of 31/03)
• Awarded $67 million in compensation
• Identified 81 system issues that are still currently under investigation
• Attended and / or held 138 events and meetings across the ACT, NSW, QLD, SA, VIC and WA
• Received more than 61,237 phone calls; and
• Had 568,933 visits to their website