The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has appointed seven senior ombudsmen, a newly created role it says will enhance dispute resolution work.

Chris Liamos was appointed Senior Ombudsman - General Insurance while Andrew Weinmann became Senior Ombudsman - Life Insurance.

Also appointed were Shail Singh - Investments and Advice, Anne Maree Howley – Superannuation, Louise McAuliffe – Credit, Neva Skilton – Transactions, and Brenda Staggs - Financial Difficulty. The new appointments are all internal promotions.

They will be part of the leadership team in AFCA’s Decision Makers group, which totals more than 80 ombudsmen and adjudication panel members, and will work closely with AFCA’s lead ombudsmen.

“They’ll bring their specialist technical and professional expertise to bear on projects aimed at efficient and consistent decision making,” Deputy Chief Ombudsman June Smith said.

Projects include developing AFCA Approaches – documents outlining how AFCA approaches certain types of financial complaint – in consultation with stakeholders.

Mr Liamos has been with AFCA and its predecessor schemes since 2007, holding case management, jurisdictional, adjudicator and legal counsel roles. He previously worked extensively in the insurance sector.

Mr Weinmann became a financial ombudsman in 2017 after 15 years in practice with major law firms, including as national head of superannuation and insurance at Slater and Gordon.

AFCA says around 5000 cases a year need the input of an ombudsman or adjudicator.