Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty's Government under what conditions a formal complaint against a financial service provider may be considered not a regulated activity by the Financial Ombudsman Service; and what forms of redress consumers have against financial malpractice by financial service providers.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) dispute resolution rules set out what complaints the Financial Ombudsman Service is able to look at. These are set out in the DISP rules in the FCA Handbook. These rules provide that the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) can consider complaints about regulated activities but also certain other activities which are not regulated activities. DISP 2.3.1R sets out what activities the FOS’s Compulsory Jurisdiction covers. https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/DISP/2/3.html

The FOS was set up by Parliament to resolve complaints between financial businesses and their customers quickly and with minimum formality, on the basis of what is, in the ombudsman’s opinion fair and reasonable in all the circumstances of the case. Where a complaint is determined in favour of the complainant, the FOS can make a money award in favour of the complainant or direct the businesses to take certain other steps.