THE FINANCIAL Services Ombudsman William Prasifka has accused the State’s financial institutions of failing to learn from their past mistakes and ignoring decisions taken by his office in connection with how they handle consumer complaints.
He said despite the consistent manner with which his office dealt with complaints against the financial sector, the same problems were cropping up over and over again.
He wanted to be given authority to publish the record of individual financial institutions and this morning he will begin a consultation period aimed at changing the legislation which currently prohibits his office from naming any company it rules against.
Last night, Mr Prasifka said if his office could name and shame financial institutions who let down their customers, it would “create virtuous competition” and incentivise them into offering improved levels of customer service.
He said it was vital the details of individual consumers who lodged claims against financial institutions were handled in a confidential and anonymous fashion but there was no need to similarly protect the companies involved. He suggested that by doing so, it allowed them to hide behind a cloak of anonymity.
In his annual report, published this morning, Mr Prasifka described as “very disappointing” the fact that the numbers of complaints handled by his office in relation to pensions, household insurance, motor insurance and ATMs did not fall throughout 2010 despite what he described as his office’s “consistency in approach and outcomes”.
He said financial institutions needed to make a major effort to improve their complaints record if they were to rebuild public confidence in the sector and warned that companies that maintained the same procedures and refused to adapt would “fall further and further behind”.
“The financial crisis has shaken public confidence in our financial institutions. A renewed commitment by those institutions to customer service and complaints handling is required,” Mr Prasifka said.
The annual report reveals the ombudsman upheld about 25 per cent of the 7,200 claims it had adjudicated on last year and had ordered financial institutions to pay out compensation of €2.6 million to consumers.
He said there has been “a paradigm shift amongst the public” in recent years which had made people considerably more likely to complain about the level of service offered.
