The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) launched a Financial Planning Advisory Committee on March 10 with the mandate to advise the ombudsman on all issues affecting financial service providers in relation to the FOS.
The new 10-person committee, which is chaired by FOS board member Russell McKimm, is comprised of seven advisers, four of whom were nominated by the Financial Planning Association and three invited by the FOS.
The committee also includes Catriona Lowe, of the Consumer Action Law Centre, and WA-based financial planning specialist lawyer Mark Halsey.
It has already held two meetings to date, which were almost exclusively related to the terms of reference of the FOS, according to Alison Maynard, ombudsman for investments, life insurance and superannuation.
The committee’s recommendations will be contained in the minutes of its meetings and will then be presented to the FOS board by McKimm for consideration.
Maynard said the committee’s purpose is to examine financial planning issues referred to it by the FOS board, as well as related issues raised of the committee members’ own volition.
These issues will cover all processes and practices of the FOS, including fee and levy charges, which might affect the working relationship between financial service providers and consumers, she said.
“It’s an advice role and, as such, the committee can give advice in relation to monetary limits or any other issues to do with the terms of reference (of the FOS),” she emphasised.
A second committee, the Investment, Life Insurance and Super Committee, was launched by the FOS on March 16 to focus on activities specific to these sectors.
FPA deputy chief executive Deen Sanders said the FPA had welcomed the opportunity to make recommendations to the committee for FPA planners to participate.
Sanders described the new committee as a “valuable connection between the FOS and the industry in being able to advise the FOS about the practical application of their rules to financial planners”.
