Australia’s financial complaints watchdog has recorded more than 100,000 grievances for a second consecutive year, despite a modest decline on last year’s record. The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) logged 100,745 complaints in 2024–25, down 4 per cent from 104,861 the previous year.
“The movement is in the right direction, but receiving 100,000 complaints in a year is still unacceptably high,” Mr Locke said. “We’ve now had three years of high complaints,” Mr Locke said. “Firms have more work to do to ensure fair responses to complaints are delivered earlier, without people having to take the extra step of coming to us.”
AFCA’s preliminary snapshot to 30 June shows mixed trends across sectors: banking and finance drew 54,581 complaints (down 9 per cent), general insurance 34,231 (up 17 per cent), superannuation 6,164 (down 16 per cent), investments and advice 4,193 (up 18 per cent), and life insurance 1,518 (up 5 per cent).
scam-related complaints fell 45 per cent to 5,977, helping pull down banking and finance volumes. “Whilst any decline is positive and we welcome the progress made by Government and industry to prevent scams, caution should be exercised in interpreting AFCA’s scam numbers,” Mr Locke said. He added: “AFCA currently only sees a small proportion of scam complaints, and towards the end of the financial year we saw an uptick in some scam types that cause great harm. The number of scam cases are far too high and behind every case is a consumer who has been traumatised and often suffered life changing impacts. We urgently need mandatory industry codes and further action from all to prevent, protect and respond to scams. This evil trade causes so much human harm, and the law and regulatory framework we currently have is not sufficient to address this. Industry should not wait to take action; every day we see the impact of more people affected.”
The three most complained-about products across all categories were personal transaction accounts, motor vehicle insurance and credit cards. The most common issues were misleading product or service information, delays in insurance claim handling, and service quality.
Complaints about investments and advice rose 18 per cent amid failures at United Global Capital, Shield Master Fund, First Guardian Master Fund and Brite Advisors PL. Cases involving self-managed super funds almost doubled, up 95 per cent to 1,323, accounting for about a third of all investment and advice disputes. Allegations of failure to act in a client’s best interests jumped 124 per cent to 1,266. “What we’re seeing in complaints is a clear pattern of conflicted advice models and the inappropriate use of self-managed super funds that ultimately isn’t in the customer’s best interest,” Mr Locke said. “This only highlights the need for the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort for victims of unlawful advice.”
General insurance complaints climbed 17 per cent to 34,231, largely driven by a surge in disputes about add-on insurance. Otherwise, AFCA said the sector had made progress in reducing elevated complaint volumes, although comprehensive vehicle insurance remained the most complained-about insurance product. “Delays in motor vehicle insurance claims are increasingly driven by industry-wide shortages in parts and skilled labour. To maintain trust, insurers must effectively communicate these challenges transparently and proactively, helping customers navigate the wait with clarity and confidence.”
AFCA reported an improvement in superannuation claim handling, with complaints about delays falling 39 per cent over the year. “The reduction in superannuation complaints is a positive sign that improvements are being made, but we’re still concerned that the top three issues relate to service quality and we urge superannuation funds to improve service standards,” said Mr Locke.
Since opening its doors, AFCA has received about 570,000 complaints, securing $1.8 billion in compensation or refunds for consumers. Its systemic issues work has delivered more than $392 million to 5.4 million people.
AFCA said the figures are preliminary and may change following further classification and analysis. Full data will be published in its Annual Review later this year, and a single complaint can involve more than one product or issue.
