Colin Neave, who has headed the Financial Ombudsman Service for the past three years and one of its constituent bodies, the Banking and Financial Services Ombudsman, for the 12 years prior, announced yesterday that he would not seek reappointment when his term ends in September. He will be replaced ASIC commissioner Shane Tregillis.Neave's departure comes at the end of what he describes as a "tough" period, following the passage of the National Consumer Credit Protection Act. That legislation established a national credit licensing regime and required that all licensees be members of an external dispute resolution service.Neave said: "We have had a very large increase in our workload. It has been a tough job handling the extra workload. "That change has been at a time when we are observing more people in financial difficulty. The pressure is on us, but we are getting through the work."After the 2008 merger of the Banking and Financial Services Ombudsman, the Financial Industry Complaints Scheme and the Insurance Ombudsman to form the FOS, the industry was left with two external dispute resolution schemes. The other is the Credit Ombudsman Service.Neave said it would be "preferable" to have a single scheme. It would enhance the level of service to members and the public, and it would avoid any risk of inconsistency in the rulings of the two bodies.However, he dismissed any suggestion that there were any actual inconsistencies in the rulings. "Our terms of reference, which define the scope of our activities, are clear. And we work co-operatively with the Credit Ombudsman Service."According to the most recent FOS annual report, published in March, the organisation handled 23,790 new disputes during the 2009/10 financial year, up six per cent on the previous year. More than 7000 disputes involved credit products and the bulk of these (88 per cent) related to consumer credit.FOS identified 58 systemic issues in the finance industry, including the application of incorrect interest rates, the use of incorrect break-cost methodology, processing delays resulting in costs to the account-holder, failure to link eligible offset accounts, failure to cancel direct debits on request and failure to adequately disclose fees.After he leaves FOS, Neave will put more time into his roles as president of the Australian government's Administrative Review Council and chairman of the Consumer Affairs Advisory Council. He is also vice-chairman of the Press Council.