The FCA has announced a call for input.
We’ve published a call for input on whether the thresholds for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to be able to refer complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service (Ombudsman Service) remain appropriate.
In 2018, we made new rules extending access to the Ombudsman Service for more SMEs. We’re carrying out a review to understand whether the rules remain appropriate and to ensure that access to the Ombudsman Service remains available for SMEs that are unlikely to be able to resolve disputes with financial services firms through the legal system.
Feedback is requested by 28 April 2023 and will help inform our review, along with analysis of independent survey data and data received from partner organisations including the LSB, the SME Financial Monitor survey, the Ombudsman Service and the Business Banking Resolution Service (BBRS).
Change to FOS compensation limit
The FOS has increased its maximum award limit from £375,000 to £415,000. This takes effect from April 1, the FOS award limit will change to £415,000 for complaints referred to it about acts or omissions by firms on or after April 1 2019 (for complaints referred to it about acts or omissions by firms before April 1 2019, the award limit is now £190,000).
Pension transfer advice – assessing transfer risk
Alistair MacDougall Compliance 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, DBAAT, Drawdown, FCA, Pension, Pension Transfer, PI, transfer
It has been well publicised that the FCA has aimed increasingly close scrutiny in the direction of firms that have been providing advice in relation to defined benefit pension transfers. Apparently caught off guard by the then Chancellor’s introduction in the Pension Schemes Act 2015 of what are generally called ‘pension freedoms’, the regulator has […]