By Douglas Melville,
Principal Ombudsman and Chief Executive of the Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman
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busy first year for islands’
financial complaints experts
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and the time limits that apply. Where complaints fall outside of our mandate, where possible CIFO staff will guide complainants to other potential sources of assistance.
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We publish quarterly reports on our work on our w
The Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman (CIFO) celebrated its first anniversary on 16th November 2016. Just one year before, after many years of discussion and planning, the laws to establish the office came into full effect. The new mandate is to resolve, fairly and reasonably, complaints about financial services provided in or from the Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney and Sark.
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“CIFO can require a financial services provider to pay compensation up to a maximum of
£150,000”
This new office is independent and impartial. CIFO provides a speedy, confidential and free alternative to going to court for complainants. Accessibility is important, so the service aims to be informal and you do not need legal representation. Complaints can be submitted online, by post, fax or email and our staff are happy to help with telephone enquiries.
CIFO’s mandate is set by law, particularly the types of financial services that can be complained about, the type of complainant that may use the service
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2015 to 30 September 2016, CIFO received 1,152 complaints. The quarterly complaint statistics give a breakdown both of complaints received and those that become ‘case files’ – these are complaints that are within CIFO’s mandate. A full analysis of the complaints received in 2016 will be given in the 2016 annual report, to be published later in 2017.
website
www.ci-fo.org and from 15 November 2
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Broadly, CIFO can look at complaints – from individual consumers and microenterprises based anywhere in the world plus certain Channel Islands charities – against financial services providers involved in banking, lending, money services, insurance, pensions and some types of investments.
Complaints can be brought to CIFO if the complainant is not satisfied with the final response from their financial services provider, or if the financial services provider fails to respond to the complaint within 3 months.
There are time limits regarding what can be looked at. Complainants need to come to CIFO within 6 months of the financial services provider’s final response to the complaint. We may not be able to help if the event being complained about happened more than 6 years ago or it is brought to CIFO more than 2 years after the complainant realised there is a problem. If the financial services were provided from Guernsey, Alderney, or Sark, the event must have occurred on or after 2 July 2013.
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