FOS will face audit and open up to FoI
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The Financial Ombudsman Service will be subject to a National Audit Office review and will come under the Freedom of Information Act by the end of 2011.
The FOS says it commissioned the NAO to review its efficiency and value for money at the end of last year and the review will be completed by the end of 2011.
An FOS spokeswoman says: “We have invited the NAO to audit us, there is no statutory obligation for us to do so.”
It says it will voluntarily comply with the Freedom of Information Act by the end of this year.
The ombudsman is also in talks with stakeholders such as trade bodies and consumer bodies about publishing final decisions as part of efforts to improve transparency.
Law firm CMS Cameron McKenna partner Simon Morris says the NAO report will be welcomed by firms.
He says: “The FOS exists off the fees paid by firms. It is very important in these times of financial stringency that the FOS runs itself efficiently.”
Baronworth Investment Services director Colin Jackson says: “The general industry consensus is that the FOS does not provide value for money as such because if a complaint is made, the IFA firm has to pay the fee, win or lose.
“That cannot be value for money.”
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Readers' comments (4)
Anonymous | 7 Apr 2011 9:42 am
An FOS spokeswoman says: “We have invited the NAO to audit us, there is no statutory obligation for us to do so.”
Why Not?
There should be, so that the "stakeholders" as they like to call us, can see where our money goes.
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Sterto | 7 Apr 2011 10:44 am
@Anonymous | 7 Apr 2011 9:42 am
Interesting do you let your clients see where your money goes?
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Julian Stevens | 13 Apr 2011 10:20 am
There was talk quite some time ago of the FSA becoming subject to oversight by the NAO, but that proposal seems quietly to have been swept under the carpet. Why? And, more to the point, how?
Hector Sants may have tried to persuade the TSC that the FSA is accountable to various bodies but, behind the scenes, the picture seems to be rather different. The government, for its part, has declared that the FCA, like the FSA before it, will be accountable only to its own board which means, of course, accountable to nobody. It all smells rather badly.
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Anonymous | 13 Apr 2011 10:30 am
Sterto 7 Apr @ 10.44
I am not a client of fos.
I do not have a choice. If my client does not care for my charges, which I am required to disclose, he is free to go elsewhere. I have no such choice with fos and like our dear leaders at canary towers if they decide to award themselves a big bonus or pay rise, I have no choice, I must contribute.
Do you see the difference?
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