Fais ombud's consumer wins

R31.7M RECOVERED: WITH OVER 3 500 COMPLAINTS RESOLVED, FINANCIAL PROVIDERS ARE ON NOTICE

- 

The ombud for Financial Services Providers (Fais ombud) put a whopping R31.7 million back in the pockets of consumers during the past financial year and resolved 3 543 complaints from consumers who were not happy with their financial services providers.

The Fais ombud published its annual report recently that shows the office's successes over the past financial year.

The main objective of the Fais ombud is to investigate and resolve complaints in terms of the Fais Act and the Rules.

The ombud deals with complaints submitted by a specific client against a financial services provider. The complaint must relate to a financial service rendered by a financial services provider or a representative.

Advocate John Simpson, the ombud, says in the report that the new rules for the office were published last year.

"The most significant changes were the increased claim jurisdiction from R800 000 to R3.5 million and that the office no longer accepts complaints against unregistered financial services providers," he says.

However, he says, the increased claim jurisdiction did not result in any significant increase in complaints.

Simpson says only three determinations were necessary.

Two of them were against funeral policy providers that failed to pay claims, despite numerous undertakings to do so.

The office also introduced a "premature complaints process" in 2023 for providers to settle valid claims very quickly, without the need for a long investigation.

An award was made in 41% of the closed cases, including premature complaints and R31.7 million in compensation was awarded to consumers.

This amount includes settlements.

The Fais ombud's annual report also contains a number of complaints and how they were resolved that shows how the law works and what consumers can do to avoid ending up with the same kind of complaint.

We had a look at a few of them: