"The Treasury Committee will expect to see real progress from the FCA in this area and will be seeking regular updates including in our evidence sessions with the FCA."
The Commissioner said: "Many complainants are currently suffering prolonged delays in the handling of their complaints, with inadequate communication. I need to emphasise that many of the complainants under the Scheme – whether consumers of financial services or people in small businesses regulated by the FCA - are people who have suffered significant loss and are in considerable distress. They come to me often at their wits’ end because of the lack of progress."
Mel Stride MP, chair of the Treasury Committee, has now written to the Complaints Commissioner for views on how well the FCA has dealt with its concerns.
Stride has also written to the FCA for views on whether it has addressed these concerns, how this situation arose, and how it will be prevented in the future.
Mel Stride said: “The Complaints Scheme requires that those who complain to the FCA should be provided with timescales; their complaint should be dealt with by people with sufficient seniority; and their complaint should be resolved as swiftly as possible with the aim of satisfying the complainant.
“Whilst it is troubling that the Commissioner has stated that these requirements are not currently being met in some of the cases that reach him, he has also noted that the FCA is making genuine attempts to address these complaints-handling problems.
“The Commissioner, though, has stated that the FCA has not yet solved these problems. It is welcome, therefore, that the FCA has committed to addressing these issues.
“The Treasury Committee will expect to see real progress from the FCA in this area and will be seeking regular updates including in our evidence sessions with the FCA.”
In its response to the Complaints Commissioner, the FCA said: "The FCA is taking ongoing steps to address the complaints handling delays that the Complaints Commissioner has commented on in his Final Report, and we continue to liaise with the Commissioner on this."
