Walk into AFCA and the first thing you notice is the hum of voices.

Key points: The Australian Financial Complaints Authority was established by the Federal Government to replace three complaints bodies with one

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority was established by the Federal Government to replace three complaints bodies with one The agency received more than 30,000 complaints in its first five months of operation

The agency received more than 30,000 complaints in its first five months of operation The customer compensation bill for the major banks and AMP may top $10b just for the scandals that are already known of

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority, which deals with customer grievances about financial services institutions, receives more than 600 phone calls a day from aggrieved consumers at its Melbourne headquarters.

AFCA chief executive David Locke says his organisation's key priority is to operate "without fear or favour".

"We recognise that for many people that have a financial dispute it can be incredibly stressful and difficult … people's lives are often on hold while these matters are being resolved."

It's been a fast start for the organisation, just six months old, born from the merger of three different ombudsman and tribunal bodies: the Financial Ombudsman Service, known as 'FOS', the Credit and Investments Ombudsman and the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal.

AFCA is now the key dispute resolution scheme for financial services in Australia.

Its fresh face and the publicity around misconduct arising from the banking royal commission have supercharged interest from consumers unhappy with their experiences of banking, insurance, credit and superannuation products and services.

"We've had a 43 per cent increase in complaints from the predecessor organisations," Mr Locke said.

"So we've had almost 30,000 complaints just in the first five months alone."

Of those complaints, more than a third are directed against banks and more than $67 million in compensation has already been secured for consumers.

Name and shame

There are two issues that will be of growing concern for institutions.

Firstly, from July, AFCA will begin naming banks and insurers that are the subject of complaints and determinations. Whether the authority intends it or not, this will create a tally of the worst offenders.

Secondly, instead of just fixing individual cases, AFCA is investigating systemic issues.

It will regularly report back to institutions — to try to stop the problems expanding — and to regulators like the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which could lead to enforcement action.

If you thought the royal commission was bad for financial institutions, AFCA currently has 81 systemic issues under investigation.

"The one that has the biggest impact relates to 2.4 million consumers," Mr Locke said.

"They can be process issues or they can be issues around misleading products or misleading advice. We will be responding in due course on all of those."

'Trust lost' by corporate Australia

The six-month milestone occurred on the same day as a United Nations' sponsored conference of business leaders, grappling with how to restore trust shredded in scandals at a time of growing inequality.

Konica-Minolta Australia's chief executive Dr David Cooke greeted conference goers warmly but was blunt in his assessment.

"Trust, to a large extent, had been lost by corporate Australia," he said, pointing to the banking royal commission as merely the most recent public example.

Dr Cooke, the chair of the Global Compact Network Australia (GCNA) organising the event, noted his company's work in eradicating modern slavery as an example of what business can do to improve society and, through actions, its standing in it.

"Business does many, many things that are very good, and benefit society, far beyond just providing employment and paying taxes," he added.

Conference guest Ming Long, the chair of AMP Capital Funds Management, said rebuilding customers' trust in financial services organisations would take time — but wasn't just a job for boards and directors.

"We actually all have an obligation to our country to all do better. So we all have a responsibility," she said.

"We cannot just look at the leaders to do this, we all must have the courage to step up and call things out when we see the right thing not being done."

Banks reveal the multi-billion-dollar cost of compensation

AMP lost its chief executive, chair, half its board and billions of dollars in share market value after scandals exposed at the royal commission.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 5 minutes 9 seconds 5 m Confession season looms large over the major banks

The big four banks — in order of size, the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and NAB — all suffered steep losses in value as the cost of fixing problems ballooned.

Half-year results are providing further details on the cost this week. Westpac has already revealed a $617 million hit to profit as it puts aside money to compensate customers over-charged by advisers, while ANZ and NAB have also outlined the cost of remediation over the past six months.

Some banking analysts estimate the total cost for the big four and AMP will exceed $10 billion.

Ming Long said employees and agents have the ability, and responsibility, to help turn around the trust deficit that exists.

"We need to make sure that people we have in our organisations — at every level of the organisation — need to understand their purpose and why the company exists," she said.

Back at AFCA, queries keep coming in to the two floors of offices crammed with operators on headsets answering calls.

The space is only temporary. A permanent building is being constructed on the other side of the city. It's larger.