From next year, all Australian financial services (AFS) and Australian credit licensees will be required to report internal dispute resolution (IDR) data to ASIC under the new IDR data reporting framework.

The purpose of the IDR data reporting framework is to give consumers greater visibility of where harms may be occurring and elevate ASIC’s ability to be a data driven regulator.

Key Points

Since October 5, 2021, financial entities have been required to record all complaints received and have an effective system for recording information about complaints (RG 271). From February 28, 2023, 11 large financial entities have been required to report their IDR data to ASIC.

However, from August 31, 2023, the remainder of approximately 10,500 financial entities will also be required to report their IDR data, with the first reporting period running from January 1 to June 30, 2023.

Some takeaways from the ASIC IDR data handbook:

• Financial entities must lodge their IDR data with ASIC every 6 months.
• Financial entities may submit a consolidated report if they hold both an AFSL and ACL.
• The IDR data glossary provides instructions on how to classify the product/service that the complaint is about, the issue raised by the complaint, and the outcome of the complaint.
• ASIC’s Customer Contact Centre will be available to assist financial entities with lodging their IDR data.
• IDR data must be lodged via the ASIC Regulatory Portal.
  ASIC will begin publishing IDR data (and complaints) once all financial entities have commenced reporting and will consult on its approach to publishing the IDR data in the coming months.
• The ASIC IDR data handbook includes practical guides (including how to collate, format and submit IDR data) and checklists developed to assist entities with their reporting requirements, and can be accessed here.