Commentators had predicted that the Royal Commission [RC] review of the banking and financial services industries in Australia would also have an impact on other allied industries. They were right.
The concept behind the RC report is simple; it aims to improve customer outcomes. Where customers are parting with their money there appears to be a wider reach to the new approach and no end to the cultural changes needed to ensure a fair relationship exists between suppliers and customers.
Two clear examples of the wider reach spring to mind. Firstly, car sales businesses are reporting huge reductions in fee incomes and resultant falls in share values. Analysts report that interventions by the regulator, ASIC, are behind the negative change in fortunes. For example, flex commissions are now banned so car dealers and finance brokers are no longer allowed to be paid higher bonuses for selling higher interest rate products to customers. Secondly, trustees and executives in the superannuation sector will be subject to the same oversight regime, BEAR, as bank officials.
There is a refocus on better consumer outcomes across the globe. These examples are being repeated in other jurisdictions as more industries are caught in the regulatory net and abusive practices are ruled out.
We have seen the effects of tighter regulation already, in the form of a re-focus by firms on their interactions with customers. This re-focus is quantitative and qualitative; firms now want to review a higher percentage of their customer interactions and are seeking deeper understanding of customer engagement from their quality assurance reviews. Achieving more and better reviews without adopting augmented intelligence and machine learning technologies is just not viable. This is why we have seen global interest in what Yabber can do for businesses wishing to improve their oversight process. No matter where a firm is based or what market they operate in, Yabber analyses and assesses customer interactions and provides insight into key risk areas using a combination of AI and human expertise.
Call us to chat through how our Yabber system can help your oversight.