The FinancialJuly 15th, 2020, The Financial Commission today announces its operating metrics for the first half of 2020 as part of its ongoing Complaints Digest publications highlighting the organization’s performance. Heightened interest in trading volatile global financial markets by traders of all experience levels during the Covid-19 pandemic has led to improvements in most key metrics of the dispute resolution service of the organization. The resulting increased public inquiries and disputes throughout the first half of 2020 were resolved in significantly short timeframes.
Key Half Year Highlights (as compared to 2H 2019):
- New resolved complaints up 32% to 661
- Total compensation sought by traders up 126% to $7.3M
- Compensation sought from broker-members increased 4.5X to $5.8M
- Total amount awarded to traders up 281% to $1.2M
- Average complaints value up 73% to $12,876
- Average resolution time increased 14% to 7.4 days
A Detailed Summary
Key Takeaways for 1H 2020
- As a result of increased interest in trading financial markets amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Commission saw filed and resolved complaints grow 32% so far in 2020
- The amount of compensation sought by traders totalled over $7.3M and highlighted the large proportion of “financial related” disputes resolved by the organization
- Traders were awarded almost 3x times more compensation in 2020 so far than in 2019 to the tune of $1.28M, pointing to issues arising from trading highly volatile markets during Covid-19
- The average value of complaints for the first half of 2020 significantly improved to over $12,000 in part due to several high value cases brought in Q2 2020
- Complaints were resolved in 7.4 days on average, which is 14% longer than 6.5 days in 2019, yet still comfortably quicker than other organizations tasked with dispute resolution in the FX markets.
Conclusions
The Financial Commission continues to effectively resolve traders’ disputes and public inquiries despite global disruptions and elevated trader and broker activity around the world. Continued trading opportunities in global markets, as well as interest in trading Forex and CFDs have resulted in an continued growth of key operating metrics for the organization. The Dispute Resolution Committee witnessed a rise in trading related complaints, which increased by over 52% in the first half of 2020 as compared to 2H 2019 and confirms the trader activity witnessed by brokers. Meanwhile, increased dispute topics complexity and sheer volume of complaints led to a slight delay in average resolution times, which still remain quick when compared to major regulatory bodies around the world.
About Financial Commission
Founded in 2013, the Financial Commission is a leading independent member-driven external dispute resolution (EDR) organization for international online brokerages, exchanges and Blockchain firms that participate in global foreign exchange (forex), derivatives, CFD and digital asset markets.
The Financial Commission provides efficient compliance solutions to its members, alongside its External Dispute Resolution (EDR) mechanism that serves as an effective channel for processing complaints from clients of member firms.
For more information please contact us at [email protected].