The names of finance firms involved in complaints settled by the Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman will be made public from the beginning of next year, according to a report in Business Brief.
The ombudsman’s annual report states that during 2016, the first full year of operation, the ombudsman service received 1,293 complaints – double the number expected.
More than 1,000 of these cases could not be dealt with because they involved complaints from before 2010, did not involve a Channel Islands finance firm or involved services such as trusts or funds not covered by the ombudsman.
Of those that could not be dealt with 74 per cent were from consumers resident outside of the Channel Islands. Of the 110 complaints resolved, 62 per cent were in favour of the complainants and 38 per cent in favour of the financial services provider.
The highest amount of compensation awarded was £67,235, with an average award of £5,231. Of those cases, 80 were resolved by mediation and 30 were determined by the ombudsman.
Since the service opened in November 2015, statistics released have neither identified the firm involved nor the location within the islands, in order to allow time to ‘adapt to the existence and approach’ of the ombudsman.
However, from January, the pan-Channel Islands service will name the firms involved in complaints and start to distinguish between complaints about Jersey and Guernsey providers.