Complaints up but awareness low
Dispute resolution service FSCL says it is getting twice as many complaints now as it was six months ago but awareness of the role of schemes was lower than it should be.
Thursday, April 18th 2013, 6:31AM 
8 Comments
by Susan Edmunds
Susan Taylor, chief executive of Financial Services Complaints Limited, said people with legitimate complaints about their financial services providers were missing out on the chance to have a fair hearing because they did not realise the option was there.
"Many New Zealanders are unaware they can seek free and independent help with problems they have with their financial services provider. Even among professionals such as solicitors and accountants, understanding of the role and powers of the financial services dispute resolution schemes remains low."
Institute of Financial Advisers president Nigel Tate said he would be disappointed if financial advisers were not making it clear to clients that disputes schemes were available to them.
He said it was possible that registered, not authorised, advisers were not providing full disclosure to their clients.
“They don’t have the same degree of disclosure. There could be an element not making it clear. It would disappoint me if that were the case.”
But Professional Advisers Association spokeswoman Jenny Campbell said all advisers, registered or authorised, must include in their disclosure statements information about the scheme they were registered with.
She said her organisation had done a lot of work with advisers on how complaints could be turned into positive outcomes. “It’s a chance to make amends and fix problems. If you’re proactive, it’s not necessarily a bad thing to have a complaint.”
She said the Financial Markets Authority wanted to see advisers’ complaints logs, even if the complaints were not serious.
FSCL has 5500 members and received 744 enquiries or complaints in the six months to the end of December.
Of the cases it resolved, about 42% were complaints against insurance companies. Complaints against lenders and finance companies made up about 16%
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Reading the above as written; Tate is suggesting that, 1, there aren't enough complaints, 2, that (many?) RFAs either don't have compliant disclosure statements or aren't giving them out.
Well, 1, Perhaps there just isn't much to complain about, and 2, I suggest that this comment is pure speculation and Tate has no real knowledge of this subject at all - how could he?
In the context of this "AFA is the only way" theme which continues, Tate's comment pushes too far. It goes beyond promoting professionalism, promoting higher standards and simply becomes RFA-bashing.
Factoid: I am one unit standard away from NCFS L5, and may become an AFA. That decision is mine alone, and will be what is right for me, and my business. It will not make me more or less compliant, force me to disclose more than I already do, or make me less likely to be a crook, or any more or less likely to be the subject of a complaint.
If FSCL want to continue upon their crusade to try and drum up more business they will quickly alienate themselves within the industry. Remember there is more than one dispute resolution scheme available for advisers to choose from…
I also completed most of my L5 but to be fair, as a Fire and General Specialist, it was providing no additional value to me, my business or my customers. Six years of tertiary education and on-going CPD for 40 years I think makes me both qualified and competent. L5 added nothing as only one course, with over 100 errors in the course notes, was available for my speciality.
If I had been unfortunate enough to have joined the FSCL scheme, I'd be looking at joining the Insurance Ombudsman scheme at the end of my current term. I would object to paying the salary of a person who clearly doesn't respect those paying her salary!
Does she have evidence to back up her claims, or is this just posturing?
1)How does this person know people are missing out? fact or fiction
2) Lack of diclsoure docs and that people dont know- inconclusive
3)68% of complaints against three categories- what is the other 38% and how many are specifically against advisers?
4) What about focusing on the good work advisers do and the issues that they may fix that don't even require an external body.
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