The final annual review for Financial Ombudsman Service Australia shows a record number of disputes received in the past financial year. FOS stated that the 43,684 disputes lodged was an 11 per cent increase on the 2016/17 year, with the chief ombudsman explaining that more customers of financial firms had come to realise they were not being treated fairly.The numbers increased across all categories of disputes, especially later in the year as the royal commission into misconduct in the banking, superannuation and financial services industry focused attention on the sector.The FOS report also suggested public debate about the future of external dispute resolution also played a role in boosting numbers in its final year of operation. From 1 November 2018, a single financial services dispute resolution scheme, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority will begin receiving disputes that were previously handled by FOS, the Credit and Investments Ombudsman or the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal.FOS said it accepted just shy of 23,000 disputes into case management in the 2017/18 year, up 2 per cent on the previous year. Among these cases, the main products in dispute were: credit cards (15 per cent of all disputes), home loans (10 per cent) and comprehensive motor vehicle insurance (10 per cent). Across all these disputes, banks were involved in 43 per cent, general insurers 28 per cent and credit providers 9 per cent. The average time to close these cases was 54 days (the same as last year), with almost half (48 per cent) settled within 30 days (up 4 percentage points from last year) and 80 per cent of disputes were closed within 60 days (78 per cent last year).Shane Tregillis, in his final letter as chief ombudsman added his support to the work being done by the royal commission and took a swipe at the boards and senior management of financial firms. He said the trouble they find themselves in stems from their "failures …  to put the fair treatment of consumers at the heart of their business."Tregillis was hopeful that Commissioner Kenneth Hayne would "strongly support the Ramsay Review proposals for a compensation scheme of last resort, and that the Government and industry stakeholders will act quickly to establish and fund such a scheme."Hayne is due to publish his interim report today or tomorrow.