The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) says general insurance matters have driven up dispute numbers over the past six months.

FOS received 9781 disputes in the September quarter, up 4% on the preceding quarter and 16% on the corresponding period last year.

General insurance disputes received accounted for 30%, with credit disputes 43%.

FOS accepted 5836 disputes in the quarter, up 4% on the preceding quarter and 26% on the corresponding period last year. The latter rise is mainly due to the new dispute resolution process introduced in July last year, which involves FOS initially referring all disputes to the financial service providers concerned.

Insurers resolved a lower proportion of disputes at the registration and referral stage than banking and finance providers. During the period the proportion of insurance disputes accepted reached 35%.

In contrast, banking and finance had a smaller proportion of disputes accepted (55%) compared with disputes received (61%).

FOS closed 9576 disputes in the September quarter – the highest quarterly number in the past three years.