As calls grow for a full inquiry into the behaviour of Australian-owned banks in New Zealand, the Banking Ombudsman there is to begin auditing how banks respond to customer complaints that are referred back to them. The Ombudsman service is designed to intervene when efforts by customers to resolve an issue with their bank have failed. Therefore, it tells complainants they first need to complain to their bank and can only use the Ombudsman service if they are unhappy with the bank's response. Every three months it refers about 600 disgruntled customers back to the banks. Only five percent of them return, dissatisfied, to the Ombudsman, reports the NZ Herald. Ombudsman Nicola Sladden said it believed this was because most banks deliver fair outcomes, but from next month it will audit those customers it referred back to the banks. It will also begin gathering industry-wide data on complaints. Until now it has been reporting on trends from the complaints it receives, but it will now be receiving internal dispute resolution provided by the NZ Bankers Association. However, Sladden said most complaints involved miscommunication and the service was not aware of widespread or systemic conduct issues such as those being revealed by the Hayne royal commission in Australia. But as the banks prepare their written responses (due by May 18) to a demand from the Financial Markets Authority and the Reserve Bank they prove they are not guilty of the same type of misconduct seen across the Tasman, the FIRST union is calling for a similar full inquiry in New Zealand focusing on the behaviour and culture of the Australian-owned banks.Union organiser Stephen Parry said they want any royal commission or full inquiry to focus on the use of sales targets, saying workers are "stressed as a result of high sales targets, as well as being uncomfortable about having to offer products which consumers do not necessarily want or need".The full letter from the FMA to the banks can be read here.