Press Release - 19 January 2006

Complaints in 2005 to the Financial Services Ombudsman increased by 23%

Media release
Thursday 19 January 2006
 
Complaints in 2005 to the Financial Services Ombudsman increased by 23%
 
The Financial Services Ombudsman., Joe Meade, provides a statutory complaints resolution mechanism since April 2005 for complaints against financial service providers. 
 
Today the Ombudsman published on his website http://www.financialombudsman.ie details of complaints numbers and trends from April to December 2005. In summary

• 2604 complaints were received comprising 1734 for the insurance sector and 870 for credit institutions. This was an increase of 23% on the same period in 2004 with a 25% increase for credit institutions and 21% for insurance complaints.
• 779 cases were carried forward to the Bureau on its establishment from the old voluntary ombudsman schemes.
• 161 new complaints in total against credit unions (23), intermediaries (119) and stockbrokers (19) were received as these are now subject to the Ombudsman's remit and were not covered under the former voluntary schemes.
• 1368 complaints were concluded following investigation by the Ombudsman while a further 1339 were referred to the internal complaints procedures of the providers for appropriate action. The highest compensation awarded by the Ombudsman was €56,000 against a credit institution and €32,000 against an insurance sector provider.

(a) The analysis of the 1368 concluded complaints is as follows

Insurance   Credit Institutions
Upheld		241	(24%)		133	(36%)
Not upheld		260	(26%)		141	(38%)
Settled		338	(34%)		21	(6%)
Outside remit		161	(16%)		73	(20%)

(b) The four main areas of business and the nature of the complaints received were as follows

Credit Institutions		Area of Business		Nature of complaint
Account Transactions		206	24%	Maladministration	317	37%
Various Lending Problems		157	18%	Unfair treatment	255	29%
Credit Card Disputes		134	15%	Breach of contract	108	12%
Mortgage Issues		131	15%	Negligence	83	9%
Insurance sector		Area of business
		Non Life (63%)		Life        (37%)
Travel		323	29%	Life assurance	180	28%
Motor		281	26%	Investment policies	136	21%
Household contents/ Buildings		146	13%	Endowment policies	96	15%
Medical expenses		102	9%	Critical/serious illness	50	8%

 

Nature of insurance complaints
Repudiation of claim	484	28%
Maladministration	201	12%
Customer care	177	10%
Claim handling	158	9%
Mis-selling	119	7%

 

The Ombudsman published on his website in October 2005 details of compensation awards made and other significant decisions in the April to September 2005 period. He intends to publish similar details for the October to December 2005 period next month.

Note for editors
 
The Financial Services Ombudsman's Bureau was established on a statutory basis and opened for business on 1st April 2005. The Financial Services Ombudsman, as an independent officer, ensures that unresolved complaints from customers of all regulated financial service providers are investigated, mediated and adjudicated fairly.

The Ombudsman is empowered to make awards up to €250,000 and awards are binding on both parties subject to appeal to the High Court. Eligible consumers include all natural persons, limited companies with a turnover of €3million or less (SMEs) and all unincorporated bodies, including clubs, charities, trusts, partnerships etc.

The existing voluntary Ombudsman for the Credit Institutions and the Insurance Ombudsman of Ireland schemes were incorporated into the Bureau. The Bureau's role in addition covers members of credit unions, customers of brokers, intermediaries, moneylenders and all other financial service providers. Complaints against Credit Institutions and the Insurance Sector were processed from 1 April 2005 while the following were the latest dates for dealing with other complaints

Credit Unions		1 August 2005
Mortgage and Insurance brokers		1 October 2005
Moneylenders		1 November 2005
All others		1 December 2005

Further information available from Diarmuid Byrne
 
Financial Services Ombudsman's Bureau

Lo call 1890 88 20 90

Email address mailto:enquiries@financialombudsman.ie
Website address www.financialombudsman.ie