Financial Ombudsman Service
The Financial Ombudsman Service in the UK was established in 2001 as a result of the Financial Service and Markets Act 2000. The main role of the Financial Ombudsman Service is to settle disputes between consumers and financial business that they have not been able to settle themselves. The type of business that provides financial service can be banks, insurance companies and financial advisors.
What is the Financial Ombudsman Service?
The Financial Ombudsman Service can deal with almost all complaints that consumers have with financial matters. This can be from mortgages to investments and credit matters.
The Financial Ombudsman Service is independent and impartial. This means that when the Financial Ombudsman Service looks at a complaint, it will look at both sides of the complaint. The Financial Ombudsman Service will then decide if the business has acted fairly or wrongly. If the business has acted wrongly, the Financial Ombudsman Service can order that business to correct things and make them right.
The decisions that are made by the Financial Ombudsman Service are binding on both parties that are involved. However, if a consumer is not happy with the decision by the Financial Ombudsman Service they can apply to court to resolve the dispute. The problem with court is that it can be more time consuming, stressful and sometimes can cost a lot of money.
Each year the Financial Ombudsman Service deals with other a million enquires and settle over 150,000 disputes.
The Financial Ombudsman Service is governed by the rules and regulations set by the Financial Services Authority or any other regulator that is applicable.
Financial Ombudsman Service Process
The Financial Ombudsman Service will look at each complaint individually and decide on what is fair and reasonable on the circumstances of the complaint. The Financial Ombudsman Service will take into account what statutory laws are applicable, what regulations have been set. The Financial Ombudsman Service will also look at the circumstance as a whole and whether something was good practice at the time of the complaint.
The majority of cases that the Financial Ombudsman Service deals with are settled at an early stage through informal stages. These informal stages can include mediation and conciliation by the Financial Ombudsman Service. An ombudsman’s decision is the final stage of the Financial Ombudsman Service process.
Funding the Financial Ombudsman Service
The Financial Ombudsman Service is funded through a series of statutory levies on the financial service industry. There is also funded for the Financial Ombudsman Service through fees of cases it helps to settle.
It should be noted that for consumers to use the Financial Ombudsman Service it is free.
Accountability of the Financial Ombudsman Service
The Financial Ombudsman Service is accountable to the general public. This is because the Financial Ombudsman Service is accountable to the Treasury Ministers, who in turn are accountable to Parliament.
There is an independent assessor. The independent assessor’s role is to deal with complaints about the Financial Ombudsman Service from consumers and business.
The board of the Financial Ombudsman Service are appointed by the Financial Services Authority.