The FinancialApril 4th 2023, The Financial Commission, a leading external dispute resolution (EDR) organization catering to the financial services industry, announces increases in several key metrics, including new and resolved complaints, amounts sought from non-members and those awarded to traders, as well as rise in financial-related complaints, as part of its quarterly Complaints Digest. The organization also recorded improved resolution times, with complaints being resolved on average in 5.6 days.
Key highlights for 1Q 2023 vs. 4Q 2022:
- New filed complaints increased by 12%
- Compensation sought from non-member rose 68%
- Compensation awarded increased 29% to $78,437
- Average complaint values down 23% to $5,078
- Average resolution time improved to 5.6 days
Quarter Over Quarter Comparison
Key Takeaways
- Increase in complaints amid strong market volatility
- Compensation sought from all brokers drops 13%
- Rulings in favor of clients jumped 30%
- Financial-related complaints rose 39%
- Complaints resolution times improved by 8%
Conclusions
The return of market volatility, as well as sustained macro trends, including rising interest rates, inflation and geopolitical concerns boosted retail trading among investors in the first quarter of 2023 and impacted several key metrics of the Financial Commission. There was also noticeable change in the complaints topics for the period, with increases in trading-related and financial-related complaints, which indicate that traders are back to finding opportunities in the markets. In 1Q 2023 the organization also experienced an increase in amounts sought from non-member firms, indicating the significant number of investors, who do not have access to external dispute resolution (EDR) services today. Complaints filed and resolved in the first quarter of 2023 were also more valuable, with those in the $500-999 and $1,000-9,999 categories increasing 48% and 54%, respectively – highlighting the continued importance of the organization to investigate complaints with higher monetary values. During the quarter, the Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) managed to accumulate less complaint investigations carrying over into 2Q, while experiencing an improvement in already exceptional average resolution times, which still continue to outpace alternative EDR services.
About Financial Commission
The Financial Commission has conducted dispute resolution services specifically for FX and CFD traders and broker member firms since 2013 as an independent, non-governmental self-regulatory organization and external dispute resolution (EDR) forum. For more information, click here or email us at [email protected].