complaints handling

Claims against life and pensions intermediaries fell by a quarter last year according to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

The financial ombudsman (FOS) has hit back at criticism of its complaints statistics, saying the data was not designed for consumer use but to encourage firms to handle client grievances more efficiently.

Firms must publish their first raft of complaints figures by 31 August, the FSA announced today.

Problems with pension transfers are becoming more common, and accounted for one in five complaints received by the Pensions Ombudsman in the last financial year.

Financial advisers will have to publish their own complaints data under radical new proposals unveiled today by the FSA.

The Financial Services Authority has this morning imposed an £800,000 fine on Abbey National - the biggest penalty yet for mortgage endowments complaints mishandling.

A book is being launched into the IFA market next week which helps firms tackle consumer complaints and assess whether compensation should be paid.

Firms which are unable to find copies of original letters or documents relating to a complainant's case could submit a copy of the standard client letter in use at that time to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Poor handling of endowment mis-selling complaints by financial services firms will increase the number of such cases passing through the Financial Ombudsman Service to around 70,000 cases a year until 2007, alleges the service.

Norwich Union has called for third-party endowment mortgage complaints handling firms to be regulated, to ensure consistent handling of mortgage complaints.