The introduction of “execution of sales” as a method of making financial products accessible to the lower income section of the population may have arisen from noble intentions, but like the expression says, so is the road to hell. A recent ruling by Judge Ron McLaren, the Ombudsman for Long-term Insurance, highlighted the many pitfalls […]
The Office of the FAIS Ombud often receives complaints related to alleged unfair rejection of claims. One of the latest deals with the calculation of a waiting period that may be imposed in a funeral policy. Unpacking funeral cover waiting periods When applying for a funeral policy, no medical underwriting is conducted by the insurer […]
The Ombudsman for Banking Services (OBS) published its annual report, showing an increase in calls received, but a decrease in actual complaints registered. Although the statistics for 2019 demonstrate a decrease in complaints, the increased complexity of some of these complaints meant that they took much longer to resolve, the OBS Chairman, Advocate John Myburgh, […]
“We received 11 915 written requests for assistance in 2019, which was an increase of 147 requests compared to the 11 768 in 2018,” Judge Ron McLaren, Ombudsman for Long-term Insurance notes in the recently released 2019 Annual Report. He highlighted the following: ● The percentage of cases resolved in favour of complainants increased from […]
The commencement dates of certain provisions under the Financial Sector Regulation Act has recently amended and as a result published in a Government Gazette. Some of these include: ● Chapter 14 (sections 175 to 217) that described the Ombud Council will have a commencement date 1 June 2020 ● The Financial Services Ombud Schemes Act, 2004 will […]
The Office of the FAIS Ombud (“OFO”) released its Annual Report for the year 2018/2019 last week, providing a review of its performance over this period. During the financial year the OFO received a total of 9323 new complaints. The report indicates that there was an increase in the number of complaints settled or resolved […]
“As from January 1 2020, retired Judge Ron McLaren will be the single watchdog for both the short-term (non-life) and long-term (life) insurance industries,” BusinessLive reported yesterday. According to the article, the two ombud offices will continue to operate separately within their current defined jurisdictions, but with a single port of entry for complainants who […]
The Office of the FAIS Ombud announced last week that Advocate Tshombe assumed the role of new Ombud for Financial Services Providers effective 1 November 2019. She takes over from the previous Ombud, Mr Naresh Tulsie, who had served as the FAIS Ombud since May 2018. Click here to read more about Advocate Tshombe’s qualifications and experience. There […]
During March 2019, the Office of the FAIS Ombud established a Client Care Centre to enhance the customer experience. The objective of the establishment of the Client Care Centre was to give life to some of their core values which include increasing awareness and educating those they serve about the services provided, so as to […]
Last Monday we published an article on the outcome of a FSCA Tribunal hearing with the following introduction: “The findings of a hearing by the FSCA Tribunal in the Van Zyl case heard on 25 June 2019 should result in serious introspection by the office of the FAIS Ombud.” “Whilst not directly addressing some of the grounds […]
