THE CURRENT chairman of the Competition Authority, Bill Prasifka, has been appointed Financial Services Ombudsman.

Mr Prasifka will succeed Joe Meade, who retired on January 3rd. He will take up his new role at the end of March or in early April.

Interim ombudsman PJ Fitzpatrick, the former chief executive of the Courts Service, who did not apply for the job, will continue in the role until then.

The ombudsman investigates complaints from customers about regulated financial companies and has the power to make awards of up to €250,000. Mr Meade dealt with more than 25,000 complaints between 2005 when he took up the post and early 2010.

Mr Prasifka, who is originally from Los Angeles, moved to Ireland in 1988 and worked as a solicitor at Dublin law firm William Fry before becoming a member of the Competition Authority in 1996.

He took over as the aviation regulator in 1999 before the establishment of the regulator’s office in early 2001. He later returned to the Competition Authority as chairman in April 2006.

Mr Prasifka told The Irish Times he hoped he would continue the work of the ombudsman’s office in “instilling confidence” in financial products among the public. “It is a very important role, particularly as a result of the fallout from the financial crisis,” he said.

Before retiring, Mr Meade criticised the Financial Services Ombudsman Council for failing to make the appointment in time. Mr Meade said he had given the council three months’ notice of his intention to retire on his 60th birthday in January and could not understand why the job had not been filled before then.

The appointment of his successor was announced yesterday by the chairman of the Financial Services Ombudsman Council, Dermott Jewell.