The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has named Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) charity services assistant commissioner David Locke as its chief ombudsman and chief executive.
Prior to his current role at the ACNC, which is responsible for the regulation of Australia’s 55,000 charities, Locke was chief adviser to the ACNC Taskforce, where he played a key role in establishing the ACNC and managing functions of the body since 2012.
He has also worked as an adviser to several international governments on the regulation of non-government organisations and served as a board member and volunteer for several charities and not-for-profits.
Commenting on his appointment, Locke said: “It is critical that there are effective mechanisms in place to deal with disputes across the entire financial services industry and I will be working to ensure that the public can have full trust and confidence in the new organisation.”
AFCA chair Helen Coonan said: “He will bring energy and insight to AFCA, which is an important organisational response to restore consumer trust and confidence in financial services.”
Coonan also thanked outgoing chief ombudsman Shane Tregillis for his contributions over almost seven years in the role.
“Shane has been an outstanding leader at the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and has been a key driver in the success of the organisation,” she said.
“Shane has also played a vital role in the complex arrangements involved in the successful transition to AFCA.”
Locke will begin his role on 25 June.
AFCA is the new one-stop-shop complaints resolution service for the financial sector that will replace FOS, the Credit and Investments Ombudsman and the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal. The new body will start accepting new disputes from 1 November.
