The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has announced that it will begin naming financial firms in its published determinations to make itself more open, transparent, and accountable to the public.

The change in AFCA rules follows the financial services royal commission and ASIC approval of the change, which took into account stakeholder feedback to AFCA’s public consultation and the statutory approval criteria.

“AFCA plays an important public role and we recognise that transparency in our data and decisions is essential to rebuilding trust in the financial sector,” said David Locke, AFCA chief ombudsman and CEO. “We already publish decisions on our website, but we have been unable to name the financial firms involved. We welcome ASIC’s approval to change our Rules, which will allow us to now name financial firms in decisions we publish on our website. This is an important change, and the public will now be able to access increased information about the actions of financial firms.”

AFCA is working with ASIC to determine the start date for the naming of financial firms.