The Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO) commenced monitoring complaints relating to the withdrawal of financial service providers from the Irish banking market in Q2 2022.
To note, section 56(4) of the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Act 2017 provides that “the Ombudsman, shall, without prejudice to the form of investigation, ensure investigations are conducted otherwise than in public”. As such, it is not possible to identify the specific providers against whom complaints are made.
The details provided below reflect the aggregate number of complaints received by the FSPO as of 31 August 2022, where the withdrawal of providers from the Irish banking market was identified as an element of the conduct being complained of by consumers.
Of the 50 complaints received, 17 have been closed either within the FSPO’s Dispute Resolution Service (5) or as a result of early-stage closure or legal service resolution (12). Of the 33 active complaints on hand, 15 are being processed within the FSPO’s Customer Operations and Information Management team, while the remaining 18 complaints have progressed to the FSPO’s Dispute Resolution Service.
On staffing, 10 staff have joined the FSPO since March 2022. However these staff were recruited in relation to existing vacancies and as such are not additional staff.
The FSPO is mindful that any increase in the volume of complaints received to the Office arising as a result of market withdrawal will have resourcing and budgetary implications for the organisation. The FSPO maintains and puts in place appropriate resourcing to deliver on its remit and monitors its resourcing and Key Performance Indicators against the backdrop of an evolving external financial environment, on an ongoing basis.
As an example, during 2020 and 2021, the FSPO faced and met the significant challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This included developing and implementing a new Covid-19 complaint management strategy, which was operational within weeks of receiving the first Covid-19 related complaints. By the end of 2021, the FSPO had received 875 complaints arising from the pandemic, with 682 of these complaints concluded by the end of 2021. The FSPO’s complaint management strategy included the prioritisation of complaints concerning business interruption insurance, in recognition of the importance to policy holders of achieving a swift understanding as to whether they were entitled to benefits or payments.
As the FSPO continues to monitor complaint trends arising as a result of the withdrawal of banks from the Irish market, the FSPO may, if deemed necessary, establish specific specialist complaint handling teams or increased resourcing to respond to such complaints. Any additional resource requirements will be kept under review by the FSPO and the Department of Finance, as appropriate.
|
Month received
|
Complaints received
|
|
March 2022
|
2
|
|
April 2022
|
1
|
|
May 2022
|
8
|
|
June 2022
|
14
|
|
July 2022
|
13
|
|
August 2022
|
12
|
