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Consumer Outcomes Group

The ABA is committed to improving customer outcomes in retail banking

The Consumer Outcomes Group (COG) is the ABA’s forum for consumer groups to raise and discuss existing and emerging issues.

Issues are prioritised to work on together to improve customer outcomes.  This may include bank practices and products, regulatory issues, and issues impacting low income and vulnerable customers.

To resolve issues COG may share information, do joint research, develop shared policy and regulatory reform positions, and / or change to bank practices.

The Consumer Federation of Australia nominates the seven consumer organisations to work with the ABA on COG.


The ABA also seeks feedback on other work to improve vulnerable customer outcomes from COG consumer representatives and other specialist consumer organisations. 

Recent examples include:

  • The updated financial abuse guidelines which outline how banks respond to financial abuse – in particular, Family and Domestic Violence (FDV) and elder abuse
  • Development of the Financial Assistance Hub which provides a step-by-step guide to customers experiencing financial difficulty.

COG Membership & Terms of Reference


COG: Priorities

Examples of things the ABA has worked on with consumer groups include:

Debt Management Firms
Unsecured debt

What banks must do before selling debts and what happens after debts are sold, including protections for vulnerable customers.

Lenders Mortgage Insurance
Lenders Mortgage Insurance

Increased transparency and clarity so customers better understand how LMI works, including protections for vulnerable customers.

Credit Score OK
Credit reporting

Customers who deferred their loans as part of a COVID-19 assistance offering will not have missed repayments reflected on their credit report. This was an industry first, ensuring customers were not unduly impacted by the crisis.

Debt management firms

How banks deal with debt management firms who aren’t acting in the customer’s best interest. Advocacy for greater regulation of debt management firms. After this work, the government announced greater regulation of debt management firms.

Download the Terms of Reference: includes purpose and appointment of membership.

Download PDF

COG Membership

Rachna came to financial counselling in 2011 after a career in retail banking. She is a financial counsellor currently working as the Senior Practitioner, Financial Wellbeing Program, at South East Community Links (SECL).

Rachna works with people experiencing financial difficulty from a range of cultural backgrounds who have been impacted by unemployment, living on a low income, family violence, gambling and other life events.

Rachna is on the SECL board as a Staff representative and is a former member of the Financial Ombudsman Service- Consumer Liaison Group as a consumer representative.

Rachna has a Masters in Business (Swinburne University of Technology), and a Dip. Community Services (Financial Counselling).

Gerard is CEO of the Consumer Action Law Centre, an independent, not-for-profit consumer organisation based in Melbourne. Consumer Action provides financial counselling, legal advice and representation to support vulnerable and disadvantaged Victorian consumers, and draws on its direct knowledge of the consumer experience in modern markets to pursue consumer interest campaigns and policy reform at both state and national levels.

Gerard is also the Chair of Consumers’ Federation of Australia, the peak body for consumer organisations in Australia, representing a diverse range of consumer groups, including most national consumer organisations.

Adrian was appointed the inaugural Customer Advocate for the Westpac Group in November 2016.

Adrian represents customers and is independent of Westpac Group’s business units.

Prior to joining the Westpac Group Adrian was a lawyer for more than 30 years, most recently as a partner at international law firm, Norton Rose Fulbright, where he held various roles including Global Chairman.

Angela has been the Commonwealth Bank Group’s Customer Advocate since September 2019. Supported by the Office of the Customer Advocate, Angela uses an independent and community-informed voice to help the Group to identify, address and prevent poor customer outcomes. More information about Angela’s role as the Commonwealth Bank Group Customer Advocate can be found here.

Angela co-chairs Unity, the Commonwealth Bank’s LGBTI+ employee network, which advocates for a culture of inclusion and respect regardless of sexuality, gender and expression across the organisation and broader communities.

Angela has also sat on the board of One Door Mental Health, a leading mental health service provider specialising in severe and persistent mental illnesses, since 2020.

As a descendant of the Wangkumara people of far west NSW, Lynda is a passionate advocate for financial inclusion, fairness and financial resilience for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia.
After more than a decade in the finance sector, she joined the consumer advocacy movement as program manager at CentaCare Wilcannia-Forbes, she was involved with projects that delivered financial literacy and awareness and advocated for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including in the Do Not Knock campaign and superannuation and funeral insurance products.

Lynda has completed the Diploma of Financial Counselling and has been involved with consultation groups around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander financial literacy, the Commonwealth Consumer Affairs Advisory Council, Indigenous Financial Services Network, Indigenous Financial Resilience Research Project with First Nations Foundation, Australian Council for International Development and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Financial Literacy Forum, which is now in its 10th year

Dr Martin Joy is Head of Public Policy at ANZ Bank. He is accountable for engaging constructively with public policy proposals that are relevant to the bank. Before joining ANZ, Martin had roles as an advisor with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, where he worked on international policy development, and as a derivatives and banking lawyer in Australia and New York.

His PhD thesis concerned the regulation of retail derivative-based products in the United States, Europe and Hong Kong and how this has been influenced by notions of the less-than-rational investor.

 

Paul Holmes is the National Legal Aid Representative on the ABA Consumer Outcomes Group. For the past 10 years, Paul has worked as a Senior Lawyer and Consumer Advocate in the Consumer Protection Unit of Civil Justice Services at Legal Aid Queensland.

Paul’s work focuses on assisting consumers in vulnerable circumstances who have legal problems with their mortgages, personal loans, car loans, credit cards, small amount loans, consumer lease, insurance products, telecommunications and other essential services.

Paul is also passionate about improving consumers’ knowledge of their rights under banking and finance and insurance products through community education and is heavily involved in Legal Aid Queensland’s Community Legal Education program.

Paul is a current member of the ICA Consumer Liaison Forum, the FOS Consumer Liaison Group and is the current Chair of the General Insurance Code Governance Committee Association.

Since joining Bendigo and Adelaide Bank in 1987, Robert has held a wide and varied range of positions across the Group, from Customer Service Officer to playing a pivotal role in the development and expansion of the Community Bank® model. Robert is currently Executive Corporate and Public Affairs with responsibility for shaping and maximising the Bank’s position through external communications and championing its point of difference to all stakeholder groups. From 2006 Robert managed key innovative partnerships for the Bank before moving into the role of Head of Group Strategy in 2009. Robert joined the Bank’s executive team in 2013.

Corey Irlam is the Deputy Chief Executive for COTA Australia with responsibilities for Government Relations, Special Projects, Advocacy and Communications.

Corey has been with COTA since April 2013 working in the National Aged Care Alliance’s Aged Care Reform Secretariat first as Principal Policy Officer and later as the Aged Care Reform Policy Manager, later working in broader COTA policy areas as Director, Advocacy and Government Relations.

Corey has a Masters in Public Policy and a Masters in Business Administration. He has worked for a range of state and national organisations focused on improving the health and human rights of various populations.

Campbell joined NAB in 2018 as General Manager NAB Assist after a 20-year career at ANZ.  During his time with ANZ, Campbell led teams across Retail, Operations and Call Centre functions all at a senior level including time leading the ANZ operational teams in Bengaluru India.

Most recently Campbell was appointed the Executive of NAB Assist leading a specialist team to provide customers facing financial difficulty and hardship by offering assistance that is tailored to the individual’s circumstances. Campbell’s remit at NAB is a clear one, to continue to keep the customer at heart of all that NAB Assist do and to lift NAB’s support of vulnerable communities to the next level.

Campbell is a board member at Way Forward Debt Solutions, he is passionate about community growth and a regular participant in corporate and community activities that supports vulnerable Australians.

Jane Britt is Policy and Advocacy Team Leader at Blind Citizens Australia, a national representative organisation of people who are blind or vision impaired.

Previously, she was National Policy Officer for over two years. Jane is a graduate of Vision Australia’s Graduate Start program in Service Innovation and Design. She is a current Non-Executive Director of Queenslanders with Disability Network (QDN). Jane has worked with the Disability Leadership Institute as an Engagement Guru and as a freelance writer for the Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training (ADCET) and Eureka Street.

As an integral member of QDeNgage for QDN, Jane has provided consultancy advice and feedback on disability for government consultations. She is a current member is the Steering Committee for the LEAD project with WWDA, and Reference Group for Deafblind Australia. Jane is Co-founder and former President of Achilles Brisbane. Jane has recently been awarded a 2020 Vision Australia Award for her commitment to advocacy.

Drew MacRae has worked in policy development and advocacy for over 20 years.

Drew is currently Policy and Advocacy Officer at the Financial Rights Legal Centre, where he represents the interests of banking, insurance and other financial services consumers. Drew acted as the representative leading consumer input into the 2016 ABA’s Banking Code review, worked on Financial Right’s input into to the financial services royal commission; and advocated on the subsequent reforms arising out of the commission’s final report. Drew has also represented consumer interests in the development of Open Banking and the related regulatory and industry reforms brought about by the Consumer Data Right and the application of digital technology to the financial services sector.

Prior to his work in the financial services sector, Drew worked in film, television and media sector policy and before that worked as a journalist.

Ben was appointed as the BOQ Group Customer Advocate in April 2022. Ben and his team operate independently from BOQ’s business units, representing customers to ensure they are listened to, understood and treated fairly.

Prior to joining BOQ, Ben held senior leadership roles in the financial services industry with a focus on customer advocacy and vulnerability. Ben has also served as independent chairperson and non-executive director of a Queensland community housing organisation and is a regular contributor to community forums that support vulnerable Australians.

More information about the purpose of BOQ’s Office of the Customer Advocate is available here.

Somesh is a