Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has announced the appointment of Rhonda Day as customer advocate, following the retirement of Bill Robinson, who has held the role since 2002.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group’s (ANZ) customer advocate is an independent position, reporting directly to the CEO. The role aims to resolve disputes, which have been through ANZ’s internal complaints resolution procedures and have not reached a satisfactory resolution, quickly and objectively for the customer.
Ms Day was previously the assistant state ombudsman in Victoria and joins ANZ from Monash University where she was the interim university student ombudsman. She holds a masters in public policy from the University of Melbourne.
Mike Smith, CEO of ANZ, said: I would like to set a new aspiration for ANZ to significantly differentiate ourselves in the speed and objectivity we bring to resolving complex and protracted customer complaints.
There has been an encouraging downward trend in the number of complex complaints made to the banking and financial services ombudsman this year. However, Rhonda’s appointment also provides the opportunity for the Customer Advocate to play an active role in independently examining the underlying causes of these types of complaints and making recommendations on how we can accelerate progress in reducing the instances of protracted complaints.