In a recent report about Canada’s banking dispute resolution system, the Consumers Council of Canada (“CCC”) supports a single, regulated independent dispute resolution service for banking-related complaints in Canada. The CCC examines recent proposals from the federal Department of Finance and the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (the “FCAC”), and concludes that consumers deserve the best available process for dispute resolution now, and therefore all banks should be required to participate in the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (“OBSI”) at this time. In addition, regulatory change in this area will require a lengthy and detailed process, with much public input, to achieve fair outcomes for consumers.
If all banks are not required to participate in OBSI, the Consumers Council notes that the FCAC’s priorities should be to: (1) assert its new responsibility and assume its new responsibility for improving the internal dispute resolution of banks, and (2) develop its processes for monitoring dispute resolution and redress decisions and related compliance and for monitoring and responding to systemic issues identified in both internal and external dispute resolution processes.
FAIR Canada is pleased that the CCC is supporting OBSI as the single, regulated independent dispute resolution service provider for banking-related disputes in Canada. FAIR Canada is of the view that a framework in accord with international standards and principles would have been created had the Department of Finance mandated OBSI as the sole dispute resolution service provider for financial institutions or had it had created a single statutory ombudsman for financial services. Click here for more details.
See James Langton’s coverage of the Consumers Council report in a recent Investment Executive article. See The Bottom Line which provides FAIR Canada’s views on the problems with the proposed framework and the federal government’s perspective that it is creating a more independent consumer dispute resolution system.
