Financial Rights believes that a number of regulatory reforms in the financial services sector in the past decade – including the introduction of compulsory external dispute resolution and the responsible lending – have greatly improved and strengthened the consumer protection framework and are generally serving Australian consumers well. There are however a great number of problems, gaps and failures with the current consumer protection regime that have tremendous consequences upon those experiencing financial stress and hardship. The raft of scandals that have beset the financial services sector recently are indicative of these problems but Financial Rights works daily with financially vulnerable Australians caught out and frustrated by the plethora of minor and major loopholes and regulatory gaps, as well as poor service resulting from a profit driven culture.
