FOS

The number of mortgage endowment complaints against IFAs has fallen again this year, according to statistics from the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Criticisms of the retail financial distribution model by the Financial Services Authority and the Ombudsman Service, particularly over the use of commissions, have provoked a flurry of angry responses from IFAs.

A ruling on the suitability of a mortgage endowment policy will depend on whether it exposes the customer to a risk they were unwilling to take, says the ombudsman.

The Financial Ombudsman Service has launched a series of quick guides for small businesses outlining its funding, jurisdiction and how it calculates redress.

Advisers must make sure they have coherent external evidence which proves they acted on an execution-only basis, according to a ruling by the Financial Ombudsman Service.

The Association of IFAs has raised concerns the ombudsman's subjective approach to deciding cases will be replicated by the FSA in its principles-based regulatory regime.

Consumers who use claims management companies for payment protection insurance mis-selling complaints risk losing a significant proportion of their compensation, warns law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain.

The FSA's shift to a principles-based approach to regulation has throw up the question of whether the FOS may move into the vacuum created by the removal of specific rules, says David Thomas, principle ombudsman at the FOS.

The Financial Ombudsman Service may consider discontinuing its IFA roadshows in light of the poor standard of questions asked and the small numbers attending.

The Association of IFAs and the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries are at odds over their favoured options for the future funding of the Financial Ombudsman Service.