The power to settle financial complaints.
The power to settle financial complaints.
28 April 2010
The Q&A page of issue 83 of ombudsman news gave an update on the new arrangements that are replacing aspects of the ombudsman service's more formal industry-liaison arrangements.
The newly-established industry steering-group, set up under these arrangements, met for the first time today. This high-level steering group is chaired by Sir Christopher Kelly, chairman of the Financial Ombudsman Service, and comprises the following senior executives from key financial services institutions:
This group discusses high-level strategic issues relating to complaints and the ombudsman service – such as major trends in workload and specific topics (for example, significant case issues and the mechanisms for handling "mass claims").
Notes of the meetings of the industry steering-group are available to download from this website.
As part of the ombudsman's more formal industry-liaison arrangements, a new wider cross-sector industry panel has also been established – to replace the three sectoral liaison-groups for banking, insurance and investment that have provided a channel for more formal communication between the ombudsman and the industry over the last few years.
The ombudsman service has also reviewed the structure for liaising more formally with consumer groups. This has resulted in setting up a forum for representatives from a wide range of consumer bodies, to discuss complaints-handling and ombudsman issues. This forum is due to meet for a second time in May 2010.