The Australian Financial Complaints Authority will have more power to resolve complaints early under revised rules and operational guidelines that will take effect in July. The changes will facilitate early settlement of complaints where AFCA deems an appropriate settlement has been offered. The revised rules will allow AFCA to deal with complaints where an appropriate offer of settlement has been made or where issues in dispute have been settled previously. The new rules will also give the ombudsman more power to manage unreasonable or inappropriate conduct by complainants or paid representatives. Paid representatives are a long-standing problem for financial ombudsman services, criticised for bringing complaints without merit or dragging things out to increase their fees. The changes are in response to a Treasury review of AFCA in 2021. AFCA released a consultation paper on the proposed changes last year. ASIC has approved the changes. A number of recommendations of the Treasury review were aimed at giving participants a clearer picture of the progress of complaints, the management of expectations around timeframes, AFCA’s review processes and its investigation of systemic issues. The review also identified some shortcomings in the timeliness of AFCA’s resolution of complaints and recommended it better manage users’ expectations around timeframes. In response, AFCA will clarify its approach to excluding complaints from professional or sophisticated investors to overcome confusion about who is eligible to make complaints. It will also clarify its decision review process to give members greater certainty. And it will provide greater transparency and understanding of its decision making.