The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has welcomed the government's announcement to extend AFCA's remit to review eligible financial complaints dating back to January 1, 2008.
AFCA chief ombudsman and chief executive officer David Locke said it will work with all stakeholders to implement these changes fairly and effectively.
"We believe that this will provide access to justice and redress to many thousands of Australian consumers.
"AFCA's remit will be expanded for a period of 12 months to accept eligible complaints regarding conduct dating back to 1 January 2008.
"In most cases, we are currently only able to consider matters that have occurred within the last six years.
"When a complaint has been through a financial firm's internal dispute resolution process, this timeframe is reduced to two years.
"This change means that many more people will be able to get access to justice and have their matters properly considered."
AFCA will consider eligble complaints between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020, following the AFCA rules being updated.
It will run a limited consultation regarding required changes to its rules, which will need to be approved by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
"We will be issuing guidance prior to 1 July 2019 to explain how people can raise their matters with us."