In brief - Watchdogs cracking down on IDR and EDR
procedures
Recent media releases and the Financial Ombudsman Services'
(FOS) 2010-2011 Annual Review have confirmed that the federal
government and its regulators are beginning an industry-wide
crackdown on both internal dispute resolution (IDR) and external
dispute resolution (EDR) procedures. Some key and systemic issues
have been identified in the FOS Annual Review and the industry will
be required to improve its systems both in the short and long term
to comply with tighter regulatory requirements.
Dramatic increase in number of complaints
The FOS Annual Review noted a 27% increase in complaints lodged
compared to the previous year. It was noted that "[d]isputes
about credit products and services – especially home
loans, credit cards and personal loans – have risen
particularly sharply"2. The total number of
disputes lodged at FOS during the past year came in at 30,283,
which was over 6,000 more complaints
