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Banking Ombudsman Liz Brown is to step down from the job this year as her office contends with one its busiest periods ever.
Brown, who has held the position for the past 13 years, said her present three year contract finishes at the end of July and she had some time ago decided not to take another term.
However, with the office dealing with a large number of complaints around ANZ's role in marketing the frozen ING Diversified Yield and Regular Income funds as well as numerous complaints about the cost of early repayment of fixed rate loans, "I certainly would not of have picked this time for preference", she said.
Brown may stay in the job on an interim basis until the end of the year depending on how soon the vacancy can be filled. By then she hoped the bulk of the current wave of complaints will have been dealt with, "but I'm quite sure that our case load will remain high as long as economic times are difficult".
In her annual report, Brown said case numbers referred to her office in the year to March were up 37 per cent with that increase "caused almost entirely by an influx of complaints about investment advice".
