ASIC is seeking further feedback on proposed requirements for internal dispute resolution data reporting. Today’s release follows ASIC’s earlier consultation through Consultation Paper 311 Internal dispute resolution: Update to RG 165 (CP 311) which was published on 15 March 2019.

Among other matters, CP 311 outlined ASIC’s approach to implementing the internal dispute resolution data framework that was legislated in the Treasury Laws Amendment (Putting Customers First—Establishment of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority) Act 2018. This was intended to enhance transparency about IDR activity and performance across the finance sector.

New internal dispute resolution (IDR) standards and requirements will apply to financial firms that deal with retail clients, including superannuation trustees, from 5 October 2021. This includes the requirement to record all complaints that a firm receives. Mandatory IDR data reporting will not commence on that date, but we want to give firms some certainty about what information ASIC will be collecting as they make changes to their systems now.

The consultation process

In response to feedback received to CP 311 we reached preliminary positions on a number of issues related to data reporting. These are set out in detail in the attached addendum to CP 311, see Attachment 1 to 20-327MR. We also simplified the draft data dictionary and reduced the number of data elements from 37 to 23, see Attachment 2 to 20-327MR (draft data dictionary).

We invite feedback on our proposed approach and on the elements of the data dictionary. 

Comments should be sent by 5 pm on Friday 12 February 2021 to IDRdata@asic.gov.au.

Background

In March 2019 we released Consultation Paper 311 Internal dispute resolution: Update to RG 165 (CP 311). CP 311 set out our proposed new standards and requirements for internal dispute resolution, including for the reporting of IDR data.

On 30 July we released new IDR standards and requirements in Regulatory Guide 271 Internal dispute resolution (RG 271), which will commence on 5 October 2021. Regulatory Guide 165 Licensing: Internal and external dispute resolution (RG 165) continues to apply to all complaints received before 5 October 2021. We also published Report 665 Response to submissions on CP 311 Internal dispute resolution (REP 665) along with individual submissions that we received to CP 311.