Regulation Impact Statement – Australian Securities and Investments Commission
On 30 July 2020, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) issued Regulatory Guide 271 Internal dispute resolution which, upon its commencement on 5 October 2021, will replace Regulatory Guide 165 Licensing: Internal and external dispute resolution for financial firms. Among other changes, Regulatory Guide 271 reduces the mandatory maximum timeframes for the resolution of customer complaints through internal dispute resolution (IDR) processes.
Maximum IDR timeframes are to be reduced from 90 days to 45 days for superannuation related complaints and traditional trustee complaints, and from 45 days to 30 days for most other financial services and credit complaints. Exceptions to those timeframes will apply where there is no reasonable opportunity for the financial firm to provide the complainant with an IDR response because the individual circumstances of the complaint are particularly complex, or the delay is caused by factors that are beyond the control of the financial firm. The changes respond to findings that in some cases financial firms are not prioritising the resolution of complaints even though it may be in their longer term interests.
ASIC prepared and certified a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS), which the Office of Best Practice Regulation (OBPR) assessed as compliant with the Australian Government RIS requirements and consistent with best practice.
The RIS estimates average annual regulatory costs of the change at $5.1 million a year. The OBPR has agreed to the regulatory costs.
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