Commenting, Stephen Gay, director general at AIFA, said: "However you look at the Ombudsman figures it is quite clear that IFAs have a commendable record on complaints relative to other channels.
“We urge the regulator to make better recognition of this in its proposals and direct its focus to where the risk is greatest.
"As with the recent data collection proposals from FSA we have real concerns about the cost and time implications for adviser firms.
“To treat the part of the market with the best record on customer complaints the same as that with the worst, does not represent the sort of regulatory dividend that was once proposed as FSA's beacon for compliant and well run IFA firms."
The new rules include:
- Abolition of the ‘two-stage' complaints handling rule to make sure firms resolve complaints fairly and do not dismiss them the first time, requiring persistence from the customer to pursue the complaint;
- Requiring firms to identify a senior individual responsible for complaints handling;
- Additional guidance to help firms understand the processes they might need in place to meet FSA requirements on root cause analysis; and
- Further guidance requiring firms to take account of ombudsman decisions and previous customer complaints.
