UK financial services providers have significantly more to do in relation to root cause analysis, management information and understanding the cost implications of poor complaint handling, according to a new survey of 44 leading retail financial services providers by Ernst & Young.
However, the poll of the UK’s leading financial services providers shows a marked improvement in the way that the sector handles complaints: almost two thirds have reviewed procedures in the past two years; 97 percent are able to identify and respond to a complaint within 48 hours; and 89 percent provide their boards with regular summary and detailed information on complaints handling.
But with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) expecting all firms to have completed the implementation stage of their Treating Customers Fairly programmes by March 2007, only 39 percent of respondents indicated that they have fully integrated their complaint handling with the initiative. A further 56 percent recognise complaint handling as part of TCF but have yet to integrate it across their business.
“Our survey shows that firms have made considerable progress on complaint handling over the last few years, but that they still have more to do,” says Steve Southall, the Financial Services Regulatory Director for Ernst & Young. “Given the FSA deadline of March 2007 for firms to implement TCF initiatives across a significant part of the business, senior management need to ensure that complaint handling, as well as other customer management processes, meets both customer and regulator expectations. In addition, the continued focus on complaint handling by the Financial Ombudsman Service, and the ongoing reviews by the Office of Fair Trading of payment protection insurance, and credit card and bank charges, means that complaint handling will remain a priority area for senior management in 2007.”