The Australian Financial Complaints Authority has confirmed that the temporary extension to response times it introduced in April will end on November 1.

From that date the ombudsman’s process will revert to standard timeframes. Financial services companies will have 21 days (the extension was to 30 days) to respond to financial difficulty complaints that have already been through internal dispute resolution.

Responses to complaints that have reached the case management stage will also revert to standard timeframes.

AFCA chief executive David Locke said in a statement: “AFCA has been working closely with key stakeholders since April to monitor and review the response timeframe change, and it is appropriate that the extension ceases as intended at the six-month point.”