If the consumer has a dispute with a bank, he or she may take the compaint to the Banking Industry Ombudsman, the most elaborate of the dispute resolution mechanisms. The Australian Association of Permanent Building Societies has developed a model based on mediation and expert determination. The Council found differences between the schemes in almost every dimension. It is obviously undesirable that there should be serious differences in dispute resolution schemes when the services offered are the same. The consumer protection regime for payment systems in Australia is fragmented.
Similar transactions attract different levels of protection.
Similar payment instruments are regulated by different bodies. Similar disputes are subject to resolution by different schemes. The highest level of consumer protection is probably given to those transactions covered by the EFT Code of Conduct. However, as is well known, the operation of that Code is far from perfect. Consumer protection in the payment system probably requires a complete rethink and overhaul.