Widespread scams have helped push the number of financial complaints made over a 12-month period to a record high.
The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) released the figures on Thursday, tracking disputes that reached the ombudsman in the 2023/24 financial year.
This involved complaints rising a further nine per cent to more than 105,000 in 2023/24, with scams being a key driver.
Chief Ombudsman David Locke said the onus was on industry to help stamp out scams and reduce complaints.
"We are disappointed we haven’t seen a reduction," Mr Locke said.
"Our view is that firms could be resolving more complaints themselves, or preventing them in the first place."
Scam-related complaints rose 81 per cent to 10,951 last financial year, averaging 913 a month compared to 504 a month over the previous year.
This was also reflected in personal transaction accounts being the most complained about product overall, while transactions that customers considered unauthorised were the most common issue in complaints.
Mr Locke said scam-related complaints dipped a little towards the end of the year, but AFCA had started to see instances of sophisticated scam activity in the superannuation sector.
"The fact that scam and unauthorised transaction complaints in super are still low means there’s a window of opportunity for trustees to act so we don’t experience the sorts of issues seen elsewhere," he said.
Other complaints centred on comprehensive motor vehicle insurance, which contributed to record complaints in the banking and finance and general insurance sectors for the second year running.
There was a 21 per cent surge in complaints about comprehensive motor vehicle insurance, which meant it overtook home building cover as the most complained about insurance product.
Claim delays accounted for a third of these vehicle insurance complaints, and delay in claim handling remained the top issue in general insurance.
Higher interest rates and increased costs of living, complaints involving financial difficulty also rose 14 per cent to 5525.
Home loan complaints alone totalled 1828 and accounted for one in three of those complaints.
