Out of almost 17,000 general insurance complaints received by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) last financial year, a “comparatively small number” were against brokers.

AFCA’s lead ombudsman insurance Emma Curtis says 310 complaints against brokers were received, although this number only includes firms with four or more complaints against them.

“If we did add in those with less than four complaints the number increases by about 100,” she told the National Insurance Brokers Association convention in Melbourne last week.

“The vast majority of broker firms have less than four complaints each year.”

Of those 310 complaints only 18 went all the way to a decision, 29% of which were ruled in favour of complainants.

The most complained about product was professional indemnity cover, accounting for about half of all disputes, followed by small business/farm insurance, and home building insurance.

“Pleasingly 19% of these disputes were resolved early at registration. Slightly less positively, there was a 10% non-response rate at registration,” Ms Curtis said.

She also has some advice for brokers who find themselves at the centre of an AFCA complaint – and top of the list is keeping proper records.

“We often find that broker records are limited, scant or non-existent and brokers then have to rely on notes based on recollections of something that happened in the past,” she said.

“It’s absolutely in your interest to have contemporaneous records to substantiate your position. There is a risk that adverse inferences can be drawn about the absence of records where there are different versions of events.”

Ms Curtis also says brokers must be alert to conflicts of interest.

“There could be the potential for you to be joined to a dispute against an insurer, and in that situation it’s really important to be completely transparent with your client about their rights and options in relation to dispute resolution.

“Be aware of the potential for their interests to be affected by any conflict of interest.”

Other tips include don’t be defensive, keep communicating and keep listening, collaborate with the process, and be open and transparent. Brokers should also be aware that some complaints are complex and will take longer to resolve.