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The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) received 100,745 complaints over the year.
This is the second year in a row that complaints have hit over 100,000, a figure that AFCA Chief Ombudsman and CEO David Locke said is “unacceptably high”.
Despite the inflated numbers, 2024–25 reported a 4 per cent drop in complaints from the previous year, where there was a total of 104,861.
Locke said this is the third year straight of high complaints. While there is progress being made, more needs to be done to reduce instances.
The industries that made up these complaints were:
- Banking and finance – 54,581 complaints (down 9 per cent)
- General insurance – 34,231 complaints (up 17 per cent)
- Superannuation – 6,164 complaints (down 16 per cent)
- Investments and advice – 4,193 complaints (up 18 per cent)
- Life insurance – 1,518 complaints (up 5 per cent)
The drop in banking and finance complaints was achieved through the targeted effort to tackle scams.
Lenders are investing heavily in scam prevention measures. This is clearly working as AFCA reported a 45 per cent drop in scam-related complaints.
However, people must still remain vigilant as seasonal trends often influence scams. End of financial year was a prime time for scam activity, said Locke.
He believes the current regulatory framework is not sufficient to mitigate scam activity.
Locke described scams as an “evil trade” that causes so much harm to consumers and urged the industry to be proactive in addressing the issue.
Personal transaction accounts, motor vehicle insurance, and credit cards were the thre most complained financial products.
The three highest issues were misleading product or service information, delay in insurance claim handling, and service quality.
Self-managed super funds recorded a 95 per cent increase in complaints. The top reason was alleged failure to act in the client’s best interests, which climbed 124 per cent.
Locke said this was due to a pattern of conflicted advice models.
“This only highlights the need for the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort for victims of unlawful advice,” he said.
Going forward, Locke urged financial institutions to be proactive in addressing complaints.
Timeliness to resolve issues could prevent people from reaching out to AFCA, which will reduce the number of complaints received by the authority.
[Related: Regulator to investigate credit repair and debt management sector]
