How Can Aptean Respond Help Super Funds Improve Complaint Handling?

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has certainly shone a spotlight on super funds over the past 12 months, asking them to review their internal dispute resolution arrangements. While some superannuation trustees have made progress in trying to improve their complaint handling processes and outcomes, there is still work to be done.

ASIC’s 2022 review into the super fund sector highlighted shortcomings in how insurance claims are administered. It found that almost 20% of super funds consistently failed to respond to complaints within the mandatory 45-day timeframe, a statistic supported by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), which reported a rise in complaints about complaint handling delays when it comes to insured superannuation benefits. Additionally, the ASIC review also reported that 80% of super funds’ complaint management systems were inadequate and that trustees’ internal reporting often lacked sufficient detail to identify deficiencies in complaint handling.

What’s needed is consistency in superannuation complaint handling right across the industry, with all complaints handled effectively, securing quality outcomes for customers in line with regulatory requirements, too. By improving their ability to handle complaints, superannuation businesses can avoid regulatory non-compliance, which can be costly both in terms of financial outlay as well as reputational damage. And, at a time when financial services businesses are all under pressure to ensure the fair treatment of customers, particularly the most vulnerable, improving complaint handling can help to ensure customer welfare remains uppermost on the priority list.

With the right complaint management system in place, it’s possible for superannuation businesses to nurture long-term customer relationships, manage complaints and leverage feedback to drive real business improvements, all while optimising customer service and helping to ensure water-tight compliance with even the most stringent of regulatory requirements.

To consistently manage complaints well and compliantly, a robust, comprehensive complaints management system, such as Aptean Respond, is vital. So, what can our compliance solution bring to the table and how can it help super funds to boost their complaint handling capabilities?

Achieve Timely Responses to Complaints

As part of RG 271, ASIC mandates a written response to complaints within 45 days for complaints about superannuation that are not an objection to the distribution of a death benefit, something that some superannuation organisations are clearly struggling to achieve. Aptean Respond can help to rectify this, speeding up and streamlining the end-to-end customer complaint journey when it comes to superannuation complaint handling.

Automate and simplify the complaints handling process with intelligent workflows that can help to reach resolutions faster, guiding complaint handlers to the next course of action pertinent to that specific customer and complaint, within mandated timescales, preventing any unnecessary delays. This feature can also help to avoid unnecessary escalations too, giving front-line complaint handlers the confidence and skills to independently manage customer complaints without having to escalate them to the next level, putting less pressure on the complaints team.

By tracking and enforcing necessary actions while connecting front and back-end activities, Aptean Respond can help superannuation businesses to ensure mandatory steps are taken within compliant timeframes. This puts the right framework in place to help make sure all relevant data is captured accurately and consistently in a single, accessible location.

Additionally, our complaints management system can help to reduce costs, automating time-consuming and often error-prone processes, improving throughput and operational efficiency while freeing-up the team to focus on more value-add activities.

A Customer-Centric Approach to Complaints

According to Huntwood’s Complaints Outlook 2022, when a complaint journey is easy, 83% of customers remain with their financial services provider. This figure drops dramatically to just 26% when a complaint journey is found to be difficult. In light of this and as per industry best practice, super funds should prioritise a member-centric approach when handling complaints, recognising that each complaint represents a real problem for a consumer.

For superannuation complaint handling, Aptean Respond promotes a ‘resolution mindset’, helping complaint handlers to focus on the person with a concern and actively working with them to understand and address the issue. This helps organisations move away from a tick-in-the-box approach, empowering them to truly address customer needs and enhance overall satisfaction. For example, Aptean Respond’s vulnerability detection technology can boost the capabilities of an already skilled workforce to help ensure no vulnerable customers slip through the net, helping to fulfil the hardship requirements laid out by ASIC. By adopting this customer-centric approach, funds can more efficiently resolve complaints at the same time as demonstrating their commitment to putting members first.

Compliant Complaint Handling and Comprehensive Reporting

A core component of regulatory compliance and robust complaint handling is in-depth, insightful reporting. Super funds need a complaint management solution that delivers comprehensive insight into complaint handling performance, as well as the ability to form a solid understanding of the root cause of complaints, identifying systemic issues and the proximity of cases to service levels.

Aptean Respond provides accurate record-keeping and reporting, ensuring that all complaints are captured, addressed appropriately and monitored for timely resolutions. The solution’s in-depth reporting functionality delivers a broad range of tools for extracting the required insights on customer satisfaction and complaints metrics.

With our complaint compliance platform, super funds can produce comprehensive regulatory reports using the IDR data dictionary, with full auditability helping to demonstrate robust compliance. As well, interactive, customisable dashboards can provide at-a-glance visibility into the management information (MI) that matters the most to the business—from case pipelines and outstanding tasks, to performance metrics, root cause trends and more, helping super funds to achieve the necessary visibility over the entire complaints landscape.

Build a Reputation for Complaints Excellence

With the pressure on for superannuation trustees to drastically improve complaint handling, Aptean Respond can go a long way to help address the very challenges that so often stand in the way of efficient, compliant complaint handling.

Aptean Respond can help superannuation businesses to achieve complaint management excellence while remaining focused on the core business, staying efficient and profitable as well as boosting customer satisfaction. Moreover, super funds can improve complaint handling capabilities, avoiding regulatory attention, not to mention penalties, at the same time as building a reputation for prioritising customer welfare and helping to ensure good outcomes for customers and superannuation businesses alike.

For more information on how Aptean Respond can help superannuation businesses to improve internal dispute resolution and complaint handling processes, contact our team of complaint management experts today.