information for businesses covered by the ombudsman service
This section answers a number of frequently-asked questions (FAQs) about:
keeping in touch
talking to businesses
other than handling individual disputes, does the ombudsman ever talk to businesses and trade associations to find out what we think?
Every year we take part in over a hundred events where we meet the businesses we cover. These events range from roadshows and seminars to conferences and exhibitions – and take place the length and breadth of the UK.
This involves our meeting thousands of financial services practitioners face-to-face – to listen to your views and answer your questions. Upcoming events where you can come and meet us are listed on the "events" pages of this website.
We dedicate a significant amount of resource to keeping in touch with all sectors of the financial services industry. We recognise that many of the businesses we cover only ever have a few, if any complaints referred to us, so would otherwise have no direct contact with the ombudsman service.
If you get together with other businesses from your area or take part in local trade-association meetings – and would like us to come along – we will see if we can help you. For more details please see "external liaison - what we can do for you".
You can also contact our technical advice desk for information about a wide range of issues. Don't wait until a consumer has made an official complaint, before you get in touch with us. By contacting our technical advice desk to talk through what looks like becoming a tricky situation, you may be able to sort out the problem informally at an early stage – saving time, money and effort all round.
engagement with the financial services industry
As well as our contact with businesses and their trade associations at an operational level, we also have more formal arrangements in place for strategic dialogue with the financial services industry.
Following a review in 2009/2010 of the way we communicate formally with the industry, these liaison arrangements take the form of a small cross-sector industry steering-group and a wider cross-sector industry panel.
industry steering-group
Our chairman, Sir Christopher Kelly, chairs the high-level steering group which brings together the following eight chief executives of key financial services institutions:
- Deanna Oppenheimer, chief executive, Barclays UK retail banking
- Helen Weir, group executive director – retail, Lloyds Banking Group
- Brian Hartzer, chief executive officer, RBS UK retail banking
- Keith Morris, chairman and chief executive, Sabre Insurance
- John Pollock, group executive director (protection and annuities), Legal & General
- David Richardson, managing director (life and health), Swiss Re
- David Stewart, chief executive, Coventry Building Society
- Simon Hudson, chief executive, Tenet Group
This group discusses strategic issues such as major trends in complaints and the mechanisms for handling “mass claims” from consumers.
Notes of the steering group are available in PDF format:
industry panel
Membership of the wider cross-sector industry panel includes all the organisations that were represented on the three former industry liaison-groups – which previously provided a formal channel of communication between the ombudsman and the banking, insurance and investment sectors.
There are now additional members on the industry panel from consumer credit, electronic money and payment services.
This means that the industry panel comprises around 100 financial services practitioners and 30 officials from 20 trade bodies.
The panel covers issues such as complaints involving a particular product, sector, or type of financial business – or particular complaints-handling process issues.
The industry panel keeps in touch with ombudsman-related issues through a fortnightly email newsletter and a series of events including meet the ombudsman "Q&A" sessions.