The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has repeated its pledge that it will not apply the Consumer Duty to complaints retrospectively as it sought to reassure the financial servvices industry.
During an Association of British Insurers’ webinar in May, Simon Rawle, ombudsman leader at the FOS, told delegates the ombudsman would not apply the incoming rules retrospectively.
But FOS ombudsman leader Constance Chinhengo, who was participating in a similar ABI webinar, revealed whether FOS will apply the duty retrospectively remains a common query raised by firms.
“I can offer the same assurance that you might have heard from other colleagues who have talked about this from the ombudsman service which is this will be not the case,” Chinhengo told delegates.
Chinhengo added the ombudsman is working on the basis that firms should be held accountable against the standards that prevailed at the time a problem arose.
“We will only apply it to complaints about acts or omissions occuring after the implementation period,” she continued.
“And ongoing engagement will be important as the duty beds in so we can continue to give the reassurance if it’s needed.
“It’s always easier when we can talk about actual cases where the duty is engaged rather than a theoretical exercise which is probably where we will sit at at the moment while it is implemented.”