Australia now has a new Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) data dashboard for the financial sector that gives unprecedented access to consumer complaints data to Australians.
The IDR data dashboard was launched by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission on 18 March. It enables users to compare the complaints reported by individual financial firms for the first time, including their handling of complaints associated with specific products like life and general insurance, home loans, credit cards, or financial advice.
In a statement, ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland said, "The data dashboard would enhance transparency by providing valuable insights into complaint volumes and trends, giving greater visibility of consumer concerns and potential harm across the financial services industry.
“Transparency is crucial to supporting a fair, strong, and efficient financial system. The launch of our new internal dispute resolution data dashboard marks a significant step in improving public scrutiny of the system,” he said.
The main features of the dashboard include:
• an overview of complaints volumes and trends over specified reporting periods
• categorised breakdowns of complaints by issue and complaint outcome
• complaints resolution times for individual financial firms, and
• information about monetary remedies paid.
Commissioner Kirkland said that in addition to empowering consumers, the public-facing dashboard promotes greater accountability within the financial services industry and provides ASIC with a valuable data set to inform regulatory decision-making.
"Beyond providing for a comparison between individual firms, this dashboard provides a bird's-eye view of how the Australian financial sector handles complaints," said Mr Kirkland.
“This makes it easier to identify key trends, including the reasons complaints are lodged, increases or decreases in complaints handling times, and the sorts of products that attract the most complaints. This, in turn, allows us to flag emerging issues for industry attention before they become serious problems.”