The Australian Financial Complaints Authority has restructured its senior ranks, creating the role of senior ombudsman to work alongside the lead ombudsmen in banking and finance, insurance, investments and advice, and superannuation.

AFCA said in a statement that the change would allow it to “progress projects to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of its dispute resolution work”.

“They will bring specialist technical and professional expertise to bear on projects aimed at efficient and consistent decision making,” it said.

Projects include developing new approaches to consultation.

AFCA has appointed seven senior ombudsmen, all of them internal promotions. They are:• Anne Maree Howley, senior ombudsman, superannuation, who is an experienced financial services lawyer whose roles have includes in-house counsel in superannuation and life insurance companies;• Chris Liamos, senior ombudsman, general insurance, who has worked at AFCA and a predecessor organisation since 2007;• Louise McAuliffe, senior ombudsman, credit, a banking and finance lawyer who was most recently the head of legal in the dispute resolution group at ANZ;• Shail Singh, senior ombudsman, investments and advice, a former financial planner who has worked in dispute resolution for over a decade;• Neva Skilton, senior ombudsman, transactions, who has worked at the Financial Ombudsman Service since 2012;• Brenda Staggs, senior ombudsman, financial difficulty, a lawyer with experience in private practice and the social justice sector, including the Redfern Legal Centres and Legal Aid NSW; and• Andrew Weinmann, senior ombudsman, life insurance, who, after a legal career that included head of superannuation and insurance at Slater and Gordon, a financial ombudsman since 2017.