The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has begun surveying members of the financial services industry in a bid to unearth solutions to reduce the number of industry disputes.
"We are keen to find out how we contribute to what financial services providers think, how we can best communicate with them and what we can be doing to assist them," FOS investments, life insurance and superannuation ombudsman Alison Maynard said.
While FOS is yet to receive all survey responses, preliminary results indicate possible solutions and areas of improvement, Maynard said.
"We have found out some things already. Part of our objective is to assist financial services providers to be doing their job better so that the disputes don't come to us," she said.
FOS recorded a 33 per cent increase in new disputes across the financial services sector during the 2009 financial year.
The increase in complaints was most certainly linked to the financial crisis, according to Maynard.
"Clearly we have got a number that involves some collapses like Great Southern and Timbercorp, but there is a lot more variety to the disputes than that," she said.
"When you have a significant downturn it sort of exposes the advice. And we must remember that even though our dispute numbers have gone up dramatically, for the amount of activity the industry has held up quite well."
Another focus for FOS this year will be introducing the new terms of reference and helping financial services providers become familiar with the changes, Maynard said.
