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The turmoil at the UK Financial Ombudsman deepened on Tuesday after Chair announced plans to resign a few days after the CEO’s unexpected departure, calling for “radical” reforms to the rules.
Barones Zahida Manzoll, chairman of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), announced that he plans to retire at the end of his three-year term at the beginning of August, but he said, “The Finance Department Select Committee” It’s certainly intense,” he told the committee — and said it’s up to her successor to find a new CEO.
When repeatedly asked lawmakers why Abby Thomas unexpectedly left as CEO and Chief Ombudsman last week, Baroness Manzoor gives details of the cause of his departure other than saying there is a “mutual agreement” about Thomas’ decision to leave I refused to do so.
The upheaval shows that the usual modest body dealing with consumer complaints about the financial sector is being scrutinized for its role in the multi-billion pound scandal on car loans amid fears of blocking UK investors. It emphasizes.
Meg Hillier, chairman of the Treasury Selection Committee, wrote to Ombudsman Chair and Financial Conduct Committee Chairman Ashley Alder, asking for details on Thomas’ departure and asking if the former CEO received his retirement benefits. I asked if it was. The Ombudsman is independent, but the FCA appoints a board of directors and oversees the operations.
The service has entered the spotlight as Prime Minister Kiel puts pressure on British regulators and supports the government’s push to revive the UK economy.
City of London executives criticized the Ombudsman for taking a consumer-friendly approach to claims for allegedly incorrect sales of automobile finance. This is a scandal that HSBC analysts estimated could ultimately cost £440 billion.
Baroness Manzoor told MPS that law may be needed to make some of the changes it thought was necessary to fix a defect in the UK system to compensate customers in the financial sector. Ta.
“It depends on how radical we want to be. But what’s the point if we don’t?” she said that UK consumer credit laws are “very complicated and outdated.” And I think that’s what Congress should be seeing.”
“Is this a mess we have to start again?” said John Grady, a Labour MP on the committee.
He said: “If I were a UK investor, I might go in a certain way with sincerity and find myself facing a huge number of claims in the future, so where should I start? I don’t know,” he said, and the process was also confusing for the consumers who added it.
However, consumer groups defend the service and say they provide significant protection to consumers against abuse by financial services companies. After being rejected by banks and other companies, you can control over 200,000 complaints per year and award up to £430,000 per claim.
The Ombudsman began reviewing the bailout process at the FCA last year – responding to Prime Minister Rachel Reeves’s appeal – by the first proposal by June.
Baroness Manzoor called for more clarity in the UK’s consumer finance regulations. She said companies often complained that the country’s main regulatory system “caused difficulties because they weren’t clear – they were looking for tramlins that were allowed.”
defending the Ombudsman’s decision to launch billing for claims management companies that brought nearly half of all complaints to the Ombudsman last year, Baroness Manzoor said it was designed to improve the “equity” of its charging policy. He said.
Previously, we only charged companies that were subject to complaints. However, Baroness Manzoor said that some claims management companies “have very good behavior, but submit unstudied cases, or submit overwhelming small businesses with thousands of flake-like claims. “We often have very bad behavior, such as doing things.”
One person who was explained about the issue said Thomas’ departure stems from her reluctance to introduce claims from the claims management company. However, the Ombudsman chair told MPS that “the final decision was unanimous.”
