The U.K.’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) recently confirmed new complaints handling rules as part of its efforts to drive up standards within the industry. The new rules include:
- Abolition of the “two-stage complaints handling rule to make sure firms resolve complaints fairly and do not dismiss them the first time;
- Requiring firms to identify a senior individual responsible for complaints handling;
- Guidance requiring firms to take account of ombudsman decisions and previous customer complaints; and
- An increase to the limit on awards made by the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Sheila Nicoll, the FSA’s director of conduct policy, said ”Good complaints handling contributes to customer loyalty and should provide the opportunity for firms to put right problems in product design or sales before issues become widespread.”
FAIR Canada suggests that Canadian securities regulators follow the FSA’s lead, and develop a similar approach to complaints handling regulation to allow securities regulators to determine whether there are any failures in the way Canadian firms handle customer complaints. FAIR Canada recommends that regulators investigate complaint handling procedures by firms that have numerous OBSI complaints, in an effort to improve complaint handling practices in Canada for the benefit of financial consumers.
See here for a link to James Langton’s article UK regulator toughens up consumer complaint handling rules
See here for the FSA’s Press Release
