By now, those in the financial services industry should be well aware of the incoming requirements of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC) RG 271.
Regulatory Guide 271 outlines the impending updates for businesses in this sector and their Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) processes. For a brief outline of your compliance obligations, have a read of our blog How To Know If You Are RG 271 Compliant.
With a range of enforceable paragraphs that businesses are required to implement, it’s important to be up to speed with the new rules.
As a part of the update, ASIC has outlined the standards for Financial Institutions’ IDR processes and the standards that should underline their management of the complaints and feedback they receive.
In the key points of Section E of the Guide, these are outlined. They include:
- Top-level commitment to effective, fair and timely complaint management;
- enabling complaints;
- resourcing;
- responsiveness;
- objectivity and fairness;
- complaint management policies and procedures;
- data collection, analysis and internal reporting; and
- continuous improvement of the IDR process.
To understand this a little better, we’ll delve into a few of these standards, particularly those that include ‘enforceable paragraphs’. These are the regulations that businesses are legally obliged to follow.
Enabling Complaints
Enabling complaints is all about making sure that a company’s complaints process is simple for people to voice their concerns through.
There are three sections to this; visibility, accessibility and no charges or detriment.
The two enforceable paragraphs included in these sections relate to accessibility and no charges or detriment. The first dictates that a business’s IDR process must be “easy to understand and use, including by people with disability or language difficulties” (RG 271.134).
The second is simple; the complaints process must be free of charge to use and pursue for complainants.
Resourcing
The resourcing requirements in RG 271 is perhaps one of the biggest changes for financial services businesses.
This enforceable paragraph requires that a business’s IDR process must have adequate and appropriate staff numbers, empowerment, training, materials and funding “so that it operates fairly, effectively and efficiently” with continual review.
For many businesses, this will prove to have a significant financial impact on their operations, as they try to budget in the funds required to provide this extra resourcing.
With software like Complaints Pro®, there is no need to hire extra staff and materials… there is everything you need included in our in-built features to meet the rest of the RG 271 requirements, simply, efficiently and effectively.
Responsiveness
As the name suggests, responsiveness refers to the manner and timeframe in which businesses respond to the complaints they receive.
Financial firms must adhere to the requirements for issuing IDR responses within maximum IDR timeframes. For most complaints, this is 30 calendar days after first receiving it, but does vary depending on the type of complaint.
While not enforceable, the guide does encourage that staff be empowered to resolve the complaint on the first point of contact.
Firms must also ensure that complaint resolution outcomes (e.g. refunds, fee waivers, correction of records, compensation payments) “are implemented in a timely manner when a complaint is closed” (Rg 271.165).
Data Collection, Analysis And Internal Reporting
Relating to the timeliness and responsiveness of complaints is Data, analysis and reporting.
The guidelines state that “Firms must have an effective system for recording information about complaints. The system must enable firms to keep track of the progress of each complaint.”
At Causia®, we’ve developed a system that does exactly that; check out our financial services industry pack for the full list of in-built features.
What About The Other Standards?
Although they don’t include ‘enforceable paragraphs’, the other standards should already form the foundation of your IDR process
Top-level commitment to effective, fair and timely complaint management; objectivity and fairness; complaint management policies and procedures; and continuous improvement of the IDR process are all important factors that you should be implementing into your system.
Overwhelmed?
These are just a few of the legally binding and advisory factors that are included in RG 271… we don’t blame you if you are feeling overwhelmed.
There is a simple way to get compliant by the October 5 deadline, and that’s with Complaints Pro®. With all of the industry-specific nuances included in it’s in-built features and complete flexibility to the needs of your staff and business, our software will get you RG 271 compliant in just 45 day!
Contact us to get compliant today!
