A single ombudsman service to deal with customer complaints for financial services has been established by the Canadian banking ombudsman, the Investment Dealers Association of Canada, the Investment Funds Institute of Canada, and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada.

Michael Lauber, currently the Canadian banking ombudsman, will take on the expanded ombudsman role.

The new Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments will merge the current Canadian banking ombudsman and ombudsman services currently under development by the three associations. It will serve the clients of banks, member firms of the IDA, MFDA, and IFIC, and most federally regulated trust and loan companies. “Over the next few months, we will be meeting with our new members to talk about integrating their established internal complaint handling processes,” says Lauber.

“For the first time in Canada, customers of banking and investment services will be able to access comprehensive and effective complaint resolution through a single Ombudsman,” says Joe Oliver, president and CEO of the Investment Dealers Association and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association. “This free ombudsman service ensures broad accessibility and consistency on a national basis for all customers.”

Customers will be required to take their complaint first to their financial services provider. If the complaint cannot be satisfactorily resolved at that level, a customer can refer the case to the ombudsman for banking services and investments. The ombudsman can perform an independent investigation and provide recommendations. The recommendations of the ombudsman are not binding on the financial services provider. However, if the provider does not follow the ombudsman’s recommendations, the ombudsman must make this information public, identifying the firm. There is no charge to customers for the service.

To ensure independence, the ombudsman reports to a board of directors of which a majority of the directors are independent of the financial services industry.

“Our goal is to launch the new service by October 1,” says IFIC president and CEO Tom Hockin. “Under the direction of ombudsman Michael Lauber, new staff will be hired and we will be working with our member firms”.