The UK Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), tasked with handling incoming inquiries and complaints from customers of UK registered financial services firms has published a report on 2019/2020 operating metrics. The report shows that the dispute resolution and regulatory body received over 270,000 new complaints about financial businesses in the 2019/20 financial year, mostly regarding Personal Protection Insurance (PPI).
The overall figures reported by the Ombudsman Service include:
- 271,468 new complaints received (388,392 in 2018/19)
- 295,596 complaints resolved (376,352 resolved in 2018/19)
- 32% of complaints were upheld in favour of the consumer (28% in 2018/19)
It’s important to note that complaints regarding the trading of derivatives, such as Forex and CFDs, actually fell on a year over year basis by 41% to 222 complaints. Ombudsman resolutions of disputes about derivatives amounted to 122, down 26% from a year earlier. The percentage of complaints about derivatives upheld was 24% compared to 18% in the preceding year.
As such, the Ombudsman Service rules in favor of clients only roughly a quarter of the time and is seeing less complaints filed regarding such financial services as compared to the year before.