Complaints to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority about unauthorised activity on transaction accounts rose 45 per cent in the year to June, making personal transactions one of the most contentious issues in financial services.
AFCA said scams were a contributing factor.
Credit cards, transaction accounts and home loans were the products that generated most complaints against banks, while home building insurance caused most complaints about insurers.
While credit cards were the most complained about products, accounting for 13 per cent of all complaints, complaints about credit cards were down 8 per cent over the year.
AFCA received 72,358 complaints in 2021/22, an increase of 3 per cent compared with the previous financial year.
Natural disasters, most notably storms and floods, were a factor in 1586 complaints, compared with 653 complaints in 2020/21.
The number of financial firms that had a complaint lodged against them fell over the year, but big banks and general insurers went against the trend, recording significantly higher complaint numbers.
The number of AFCA members with a complaint lodged against them fell 5 per cent to 1628. But there was a 10 per cent increase in complaints against the big four banks and a 19 per cent increase in complaints against the top four general insurers.
Banking and finance products were the subject of 58 per cent of complaints, insurance products 44 per cent, investments and advice 33 per cent and superannuation 33 per cent.
On the positive side, complaints involving financial difficulty fell 14 per cent to 4442.
AFCA chief executive David Locke said this reduction reflected the work banks have done to improve the way they handle hardship applications.
Successful complainants received more than A$200 million in compensation in 2021/22. But work on 1413 complaints had to be paused during the year because 14 firms were affected by insolvency. Claims in these complaints total about $195 million.
Twenty-three systemic issues – breaches that affected more consumers than the complainant – were referred to regulators.