THE COMMISSION
Complaints
Complaints against Regulated Financial Service Providers
Background Top
1. Scope
1.1. The Policy Statement and guidance note contained in this document apply to all firms (“Registered Persons”) who have functions which fall within the scope of one or more of the following Laws. (Please note that the Commission is unable in investigate complaints in relation to products or services sold or provided prior to these Laws coming into force):-
a) Banking Business (Jersey) Law 1991 as amended -
(Came into force on 1st October 1991);
b) Collective Investment Funds (Jersey) Law 1988 as amended - (Came into force on 1st June 1989);
c) Insurance Business (Jersey) Law 1996 as amended -
(Came into force on 1st October 1996);
d) Financial Services (Jersey) Law 1998 as amended -
(Came into force for Investment Business on 1st March 1999 and for Trust Company Business on 27th November 2000).
2. Structure
Part I introduces the paper. It seeks to explain why such a paper is considered necessary and provides a basic overview of the policy.
Part II is the Commission’s stated policy on complaint handling. There are six sections to the policy, detailed as follows:
1. Lodge your complaint with the institution first.
2. When to make your complaint to the Commission.
3. How to make a complaint to the Commission.
4. The nature of the Commission’s role.
5. How the Commission will handle your complaint.
6. Action that we can take.
Part I: Introduction Top
1. The Commission is responsible for the supervision of financial services provided in or from within the Island. That responsibility is discharged through a number of regulatory laws. Those same laws require persons to apply for and be granted a licence by the Commission before they can undertake the relevant financial service. In determining whether to grant or refuse such licences or whether to revoke an existing licence the Commission will need to determine whether the applicant has met, and in the case of a Registered Person, is continuing to meet certain minimum standards on matters such as honesty, competency and solvency.
2. To assist the industry in determining what the minimum standards are, the Commission will, from time to time, issue policy statements and/or guidance notes to the industry on matters which are relevant to assessing such standards. Such policy statements and guidance notes do not have force of law but compliance with them will be taken into account when considering an application for a licence or when determining whether an existing Registered Person remains a fit and proper person.
3. The purpose of this policy statement is to give guidance to consumers and Registered Persons with regard to the Commission’s handling of complaints. The policy statement covers what is expected of the consumer in the first instance, before addressing the circumstances in which the Commission will investigate complaints against a Registered Person. The policy statement also details what action the Commission can take with regard to consumer complaints.
Part II: Policy Statement and Guidance on Complaints
From time to time, the Commission receives complaints about the way Registered Persons have handled the affairs of customers. This note explains its policy towards such complaints, and how they will be handled.
1. Lodge your complaint with the institution first Top
1.1. If you have a complaint about the products or services provided by a Registered Person, you should normally first try to resolve the complaint directly with the Registered Person. Any complaint about the way in which services have been provided, or about products sold, should be addressed in the first instance to the senior management of the company concerned. Complaining first to the Registered Person allows the business an opportunity to put things right at an early stage.
1.2. The Commission has issued Codes of Practice for Investment Business and Trust Company Business that requires them to have effective procedures in place for the proper handling of customer complaints. Similar Codes of Practice are imminent for Collective Investment Funds, Insurance Businesses and Banks. However, the Commission would in any case expect all financial services businesses to have systems to ensure that customer complaints are fully and promptly investigated and resolved in a satisfactory manner. They should tell you how to lodge a complaint with them.
2. When to make your complaint to the Commission Top
2.1. If you are not happy with the way in which the institution has dealt with your complaint, or if the institution has not sent you a response within 14 days* after receiving your complaint, you may wish to seek the assistance of the Commission. We will do what we can to help, although our role is limited.
2.2. It is useful, however, for the Commission to be made aware of complaints against firms it supervises. This is because a complaint might draw attention to more general shortcomings in a Registered Person such as inadequacy of systems and lack of competence by its managers, directors or employees.
2.3. Ordinarily, the Commission will not investigate complaints that relate solely to the cost or quality of banking services, commercial decisions of banks or investment performance.
2.4. The Commission is unable to investigate complaints where a product was sold or provided before the relevant legislation came into effect. (See the section entitled “Scope” at the beginning of this Policy Statement). We will however, check to ensure that the Registered Person is following its own complaint procedures properly.
*Up to 14 days is permitted for the Registered Person to provide an initial response to your complaint.
3. How to make a complaint to the Commission Top
3.1. You should put your complaint in writing, with full details of the nature of your complaint, your name, and how we may contact you. We do not normally deal with verbal or anonymous complaints. However, please contact us by telephone if you have any individual difficulties which might prevent you from making a written complaint.
3.2. We will also need your authority in order that we may release details of your complaint to the Registered Person concerned. Therefore, we will take it that by writing to us, you give your authority for us to disclose details of your complaint to the Registered Person, unless you tell us to the contrary.
Complaints contacts
Jersey Financial Services Commission
PO Box 267
14-18 Castle Street
St Helier
Jersey, JE4 8TP
Channel Islands
Telephone: +44 (0)1534 822000
Facsimile: +44 (0)1534 822001
E mail: info@jerseyfsc.org
4. The nature of the Commission’s role Top
4.1. The Commission does not have an explicit statutory responsibility for consumer protection, and has not been given the role of an ombudsman. It is thus not able to adjudicate in disputes between customers and Registered Persons. Those considering lodging complaints should always bear in mind the above limitations.
4.2. We do, however, expect Registered Persons to have satisfactory systems and controls in place to enable them to deal with customer complaints in a thorough and prompt manner.
4.3. We will therefore try to ensure that the Registered Person handles your complaint properly. However, it is important to recognise that we do not have the power to adjudicate in a dispute or to order the institution to put matters right. In particular, we cannot order the institution to pay you compensation.
4.4. The Commission is also responsible for ensuring that the Registered Person has complied with its regulatory requirements under the relevant legislation and Codes of Practice.
5. How the Commission will handle your complaint Top
5.1. All complaints will be treated in strict confidence, although we will obviously have to disclose the details to the Registered Person concerned.
5.2. Upon receipt of a written complaint, we will issue an acknowledgement to you, normally within two working days.
5.3. Provided you are content with us to contact the institution concerned, we will refer your complaint to the institution for prompt investigation and response, normally within 14 days. Complainants should note that the Commission may, in some cases, need to send a copy of the complainant’s written representations to the firm in order to be able to follow up the complaint.
5.4. We will ask the Registered Person concerned to reply directly to you with as full an explanation as possible of the facts surrounding your complaint. We will also ask that they provide the Commission with a copy of their response to you.
5.5. We will review the response provided in order to ensure that:
5.5.1. the Registered Person has handled your complaint properly and has followed its own complaint procedures properly; and
5.5.2. the Registered Person has met with its regulatory requirements set out in the relevant regulating laws and/or Codes of Practice.
5.6. If your complaint raises issues of regulatory concern, we will separately pursue these with the Registered Person. The confidentiality provisions of the Law prevent us from disclosing the outcome of any subsequent investigation to you.
6. Action we can take Top
6.1. In the light of a complaint, or a series of complaints, the Commission may decide to take action against a Registered Person, for instance by requiring it to modify its management controls. These would include complaints that indicate that a Registered Person has breached the relevant Codes of Practice or regulations. We also have a supervisory interest in cases where a Registered Person appears to have acted in a way that is imprudent or improper.
6.2. In cases of regulatory concern, we will follow up with the institution to establish the facts and, if necessary, require remedial action to be taken. Where it is established that major breaches of a Registered Person’s obligations have occurred, more onerous disciplinary action may be taken which could amount to the revocation of authorization to conduct business. Any measures of this kind could be made public in the form of a public statement, where permitted by the relevant law.
6.3. Our ability to disclose to you the outcome of our investigation and any action taken by us would be limited by the confidentiality provisions of the Law. Indeed, unless a public statement is made in accordance with the provisions of the Law, the Commission will not be in a position to advise individual complainants of the nature and scale of its enquiries, or of the action it may, or may not, have taken.
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