Complaints are often treated as individual matters requiring investigation, response and resolution. While resolving each complaint appropriately remains important, firms may overlook the wider value contained within their complaints data.
AFCA explains that individual complaints can identify patterns or concerns that indicate deeper issues in a financial firm’s practices, systems or culture. This means a closed complaint may still represent an important governance signal.
A monthly report showing only the number of complaints received provides limited insight. Management should also understand which products, services, representatives and processes are generating concerns, whether similar issues have occurred previously and whether other clients may be affected.
For example, repeated complaints about fees may indicate a disclosure or service-delivery problem. Delayed responses may reveal resourcing or workflow weaknesses. Similar concerns involving one representative may indicate a training or supervision issue. When these patterns are reviewed alongside file audits, breaches and incidents, they can help firms identify emerging risks before they become systemic.
Effective complaints reporting should therefore include consistent categorisation, meaningful root-cause analysis, corrective actions, potential systemic-issue escalation and follow-up testing. Responsible Managers and governance committees should receive information that explains what the complaints reveal, not simply how many were closed.
The benefit is a complaints framework that actively improves controls, client outcomes and decision-making. The risk of failing to analyse this information is that recurring consumer harm may continue unnoticed while the register gives management a false sense of comfort.
The most valuable complaints data does not simply explain what has happened. It helps the business identify what may happen next.
Call to Action
If your complaints reporting focuses on volumes and closure dates without identifying causes, trends and potentially affected clients, it may not be providing meaningful governance assurance.
AICS can independently review your complaints framework, RG 271 processes, systemic-issue controls and management reporting to help turn complaints information into practical risk insight.
Click here to contact Cheyenne and the team, email [email protected] or call 07 3251 2481.
