An independent review report has found that a financial ombudsman service, Financial Services Complaints Limited, is delivering fair, accessible, and effective dispute resolution for New Zealand consumers.
The organisation says that the five-yearly review, undertaken by independent reviewer Nanette Moreau Hammond “…found that the service is meeting its legislative requirements of fairness, independence, accessibility, effectiveness, accountability and efficiency.”
FSCL Board Chair, Jane Meares, says the review confirms that FSCL is delivering a professional, fair and well-managed dispute resolution service.
She says the organisation is proud of the team’s “…professionalism, integrity, and commitment to providing accessible justice in a dynamic and changing financial services environment.”
Some of the common themes from the stakeholders interviewed by Moreau Hammond were “…timely, responsive, accessible, trusted, credible, easy to communicate with and well-reasoned.”
Moreau Hammond also makes recommendations to strengthen FSCL’s services which include:
- Conducting additional community outreach to assist vulnerable and disadvantaged consumers
- Increasing engagement with FSCL’s 9,355 participants to ensure they meet their regulatory obligations of informing their customers of the complaint resolution service
Financial Ombudsman and FSCL CEO Susan Taylor, welcomed the recommendations and noted the Board has accepted them all and is already implementing them.
…20% of financial services consumers are unaware of any dispute resolution options available to them…
“One of the challenges highlighted is that 20% of financial services consumers are unaware of any dispute resolution options available to them.
“We are actively working on increasing consumer awareness of our service and reaching more consumers, so they know help is available when they have a problem with their financial service provider,” Taylor says.
Click here to see the independent review and here to see FSCL’s response to the reviewer’s recommendations.
The not-for-profit notes that as an approved dispute resolution scheme under the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008, FSCL is required to be independently reviewed every five years. This is its third review since the service launched in 2010.