The Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA) says the announcement by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) to extend the post IDR refer back timeframe for complaints by nine days to 30 days is helpful in the current difficult times.

FBAA managing director Peter White AM said this will enable people to manage this process while still dealing with their personal and business challenges during COVID-19.

“It’s good to see that AFCA has been working with their regulator ASIC to be able to do this, and everybody is cooperating to create this outcome,” he said.

A letter to key stakeholders from chief ombudsman David Locke said, “This will allow more time for our members to resolve complaints using their internal dispute resolution practices, and where that can’t be achieved, it will provide them with more time to consult and communicate with their customers, and to locate the necessary documentation and information needed for AFCA to consider the matter.”

The ombudsman said the time extension will come into effect immediately and will initially “operate for six months and will be reviewed and adjusted as appropriate.”

Mr White also revealed that the FBAA has seen a significant reduction in complaints compared to the time of the royal commission.

“The FBAA has always had a very good internal dispute resolution process and we are not even seeing one complaint per month at the moment, which is a credit to the professionalism of our members.”

He said the FBAA recently launched its Broker Support Program (BSP) to help members through this period, “and the ombudsman is doing his part to make things easier.”