The Financial Services Ombudsman (FSO) Ger Deering yesterday published his Office’s Annual Review for the year January to December, 2015. 

The Review provides a summary of complaints made to the FSO in 2015 and reviews trends and patterns in relation to those complaints.

The report shows that the FSO awarded €1,112,885 to complainants in 2015.

The numbers of complaints received was 4,872 in 2015, the office is still dealing with the legacy of the increased number of complaints in previous years and had almost 2,000 active complaints at the end of 2015. In addition, the office dealt with over 14,600 telephone queries and received 92,000 website sessions in 2015.

The report shows that Danske Bank was the financial service provider which had the highest number of substantiated complaints made against it.

In publishing the Review, Ger Deering commented, "The actions of financial service providers and the outcome of complaints made to the Financial Services Ombudsman can have profound implications for those whom they affect. Therefore, I strongly encourage both consumers and financial service providers to engage fully in the new process and resolve disputes through our Dispute Resolution Service."

Source: www.businessworld.ie