Annual Review 2021–22
Contents
- About this Annual Review
- Year at a glance
- Acknowledgement of country
- Board Chair message
- Chief Executive Officer and Chief Ombudsman message
- Organisational overview
- AFCA Independent Review
- Complaints
- Who complained to AFCA?
- Overview of complaints
- Open cases
- Closed cases
- Banking and finance complaints
- Buy now pay later
- Financial difficulty complaints
- Scams
- Small business complaints
- General insurance complaints
- Significant events
- Life insurance complaints
- Superannuation complaints
- Investments and advice complaints
- Cryptocurrency
- Complaints lodged by consumer advocates and financial counsellors
- Legacy complaints
- Complaints outside AFCA’s Rules
- Systemic issues
- Code compliance and monitoring
- Previous schemes
- Engagement, awareness and accessibility
- Corporate information
- AFCA General Purpose Financial Report 2021–22
- Appendix 1
- Glossary
Our people and culture
Our people are at the centre of everything we do. Our cultural qualities shape how we behave and how we engage with our customers, members and other stakeholders. Our People and Culture strategy ensures we remain focused on attracting the best talent in our sector, developing our people and supporting them to deliver a high-quality service, including during times of change and disruption.
Culture
This year, AFCA developed our ‘cultural story’ as the result of conversations across the business and all levels of leadership to understand who we are, and where we want to be.
At AFCA, our culture is influenced by many things – our leadership, where we focus our efforts, our systems and processes. Yet the biggest factor is our people and who we employ, how we treat each other and our collective values.
Collectively, we bring a wide range of skills and technical experiences, as well as diverse backgrounds and varied life experiences. What unites us is our belief in the importance of AFCA’s values and our desire for purposeful work that truly makes a difference.
Our people defined four cultural qualities – the behaviours required to enable us to live our values and realise our purpose.
AFCA’s cultural qualities
- Our approach is human-centred
- Our teams are empowered and take ownership
- Our passion for inclusion sets us apart
- Our ideas move us forward
Commitment to flexibility and equality
This year, AFCA enhanced leave benefits to strengthen our commitment to flexibility and equality, and to reflect our culture story.
AFCA proudly announced increased paid parental leave and introduced superannuation payments for that leave, removed traditional references to primary and secondary caregivers, and increased flexibility to take parental leave within a two-year period, as well as paid leave for early pregnancy loss and gender affirmation.
These changes support our ongoing commitment to flexible working and equality, and are great examples of AFCA’s culture of putting people at the centre of everything we do and living our commitment to inclusion.
Our wellbeing approach
AFCA is responsible for creating a healthy and safe workplace that focuses on the wellbeing and productivity of everyone. As part of the Health, Safety and Wellbeing strategy, we have three wellbeing objectives: Prevention, Promotion and Support.
- Promotion: promote positive mental and physical health through programs and activities
- Prevention: prevent situations or events that can lead to harm
- Support: support and manage employees with mental health or physical challenges
860 employees
54% of our leaders and 56% of our Board members are female
13% of employees work part-time
36% of employees were born outside of Australia
43% of employees identify as being culturally or linguistically diverse
6.5% of employees are people living with disability
0.1% of employees identified as Aboriginal Australians and/or Torres Strait Islanders
11% of employees identified as being part of the LGBTQIA+ community
Age of employees
Gender of employees
Results of the AFCA Pulse Survey May 2022
88.9% of employees are proud to work for AFCA
80.7% of employees think AFCA is a truly great place to work
81% of employees feel they belong at AFCA
Leaders
AFCA Senior Leadership Group as at 30 September 2022
AFCA is led by an independent Chief Executive Officer and Chief Ombudsman and supported by a strong Senior Leadership Group.
- David Locke
Chief Executive Officer and Chief Ombudsman - Dr June Smith
Deputy Chief Ombudsman - Justin Untersteiner
Chief Operating Officer - Anna Campbell
General Counsel and Company Secretary - Prue Monument
General Manager, Code Compliance and Monitoring - Silvia Renda
Chief Adviser to CEO and CO - Natalie Cameron
Lead Ombudsman – Banking and Finance - Suanne Russell
Lead Ombudsman – Small Business - Emma Curtis
Lead Ombudsman – General Insurance - Shail Singh
Acting Lead Ombudsman – Investments and Advice - Heather Gray
Lead Ombudsman – Superannuation - Gerri Hill
Executive General Manager – Operational Delivery - Rob Guest
Executive General Manager – People and Culture - Kristine Seeto
Executive General Manager – Operational Excellence - Michael Ridgway
Executive General Manager – Compliance, Risk, Policy and Compliance - Brigid Parsonson
Executive General Manager – Corporate Services - Susie Cotterill
Executive General Manager – Communication and Brand - Michelle Kumarich
Executive General Manager – Jurisdiction
AFCA Senior Leadership Group 2021–22 departures
- Paul Kearney
Executive General Manager – People and Culture (concluded role on 15 August 2022) - Evelyn Halls
Lead Ombudsman – Banking and Finance (concluded role on 25 February 2022) - Diana Ennis
Executive General Manager – Operational Delivery (concluded role on 31 August 2022)
Decision makers as at 30 September 2022
Banking and Finance
Lead Ombudsman
- Natalie Cameron
Senior Ombudsman
- Louise McAuliffe
- Brenda Staggs
Ombudsmen
- Jesse Marshall
- Alan Price
- Larissa Shafir
Adjudicators
- Andrea Barker
- Carolyn Dea
- Terri Gladwell
- Elizabeth Johnson
- Christopher Siemers
Small Business
Lead Ombudsman
- Suanne Russell
Senior Ombudsman
- Neva Skilton
Ombudsmen
- Geoffrey Bant
- David Brett
- Damyon Lill
- Wes Pan
- Sharan Safe
- James Taylor
- Susan Wan
Adjudicator
- Maxwell Pringle
- Diana Tchorbanov
Insurance
Lead Ombudsman
- Emma Curtis
Senior Ombudsman
- Andrew Weinmann
- Chris Liamos
Ombudsmen
- Michael Brett Young
- Brydie Cook
- Qasim Gilani
- Timothy Griffiths
- Mark McCourt
- Radhika Mendis
- Helen Moye
- Donald O’Halloran
- Matthew O’Donoghue
- John Price
- Michael Schulze
- David Short
Adjudicators
- Moreen Attia
- Jerome Hew
- Daniel King
- Stephanie Kouvas
Superannuation
Lead Ombudsman
- Heather Gray
Senior Ombudsman
- Anne Maree Howley
Ombudsmen
- Jane Abbott
- April Blair
- Vicki Carter
- Louise Du Pre-Alba
- Justin Malbon
- Benjamin Norman
- Ragini Rajadurai
- Mervyn Silverstein
- Ben Taylor
Adjudicator
- Senthur Kugathasan
Investments and advice
Lead Ombudsman
- Shail Singh
Senior Ombudsman
- Nicolas Crowhurst (acting)
Ombudsmen
- Michael Arnold
- Ian Donald
- Pascal Kasimba
- Craig Pudig
- Alexandra Sidoti
Banking and Finance 2021–22 departures
Ombudsmen
- Jennifer English (concluded role on 15 September 2022)
Insurance 2021–22 departures
Ombudsmen
- Vicki Mullen (concluded role on 8 April 2022)
- Christine McCarthy (concluded role on29 June 2022)
Adjudicators
- Rebecca Clark (concluded role on 30 November 2022)
