Jeremy Cooper
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has approved the creation of a new Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) resulting from the merger of the three biggest complaints schemes, the Financial Industry Complaints Service, the Banking and Financial Ombudsman Service and the Insurance Ombudsman Service.
The new Financial Ombudsman Service will deal with virtually all consumer complaints about financial services, with ASIC chairman Jeremy Cooper claiming it would promote better outcomes for both the industry and consumers.
The new Ombudsman will operate from July 1 and will initially operate under the rules and procedures of the existing schemes before moving to a single set of rules in January 2010.
ASIC is encouraging all financial services licensees who are members of one of the existing schemes to transfer to the new service as soon as practicable.
