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From
Peter Butler
Email
pdbutler@ntlworld.com
RECTIFICATION
BULLETIN NUMBER 6
May
2005
The
April 2005 Bulletin included a letter written to Walter Merricks at the FOS
reiterating the Formal Complaint on the role of the FSA in the questionable
Rectification Scheme 2003. Our letter was passed to John Todd who responded with
the following letter, which gives a clear explanation of the complaints that can
and will be handled by the FOS.
The
letter also clearly states the matters on which they are not able to handle.
This
suggests therefore that complainants who are dissatisfied with reviews under the
Rectification Schemes might make their complaints for misselling pointing
out that the delay in submission was due to the delayed rectification review
which has not provided adequate redress for the misselling.
With
best wishes
Peter
Butler
Financial
Ombudsman Service
our
ref 3673005/JT
your ref
Dear
Mr Butler
Your
complaint about The Equitable Life Assurance Society
Waiter
Merricks has asked me to reply to your letter of 12 April, which 1 have
discussed with him.
.The
statutory role of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is to regulate
financial firms, such as Equitable. The statutory role of the Financial
Ombudsman Service (FOS) is to resolve individual complaints by individual
complainants about an alleged act or omission by a regulated financial firm,
such as Equitable.
It
follows from this that there are some things mentioned in your letter that FOS
simply does not have the power to do:
•
FOS cannot consider a collective complaint by an action group.
•
FOS cannot consider a complaint about an alleged act or omission by FSA.
•
FOS cannot issue a general direction to Equitable about how to treat a
class of policyholders.
This
is what FOS does have the power to do (and has been doing in a number of cases):
•
FOS can consider individual Complaints by individual policyholders that
they were missold an unsuitable Equitable policy.
•
If FOS upholds such a complaint, which will depend on the circumstances
of each case, it can require Equitable to provide redress.
•
FOS will make its own assessment of what redress is appropriate,
depending on the circumstances of each case.
If
any members of your group consider they were mis-sold an unsuitable Equitable
policy or they believe that any redress offered to them by Equitable for such a
mis-sale is unreasonable, they first need to complain to Equitable about this
(if they have not already done so). In accordance with FSA rules, FOS cannot
consider a complaint until the financial firm concerned has issued a final
response letter to the complaint (or until eight weeks have elapsed since the
complaint was made to the financial firm).
Each
policyholder will then need to file an individual complaint form with FOS,
accompanied by Equitable's final response letter (or evidence that eight weeks
have elapsed since the complaint was filed with Equitable).
I
hope this helpful
Yours
sincerely
John
Todd
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