The Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) is seeking public comment on its updated terms of reference (TORs), the industry dispute resolution service announced on Friday.
The TORs set out OBSI’s mandate and powers. The revisions aim to restructure the TORs and to improve their clarity, not to set out fundamental changes to how the service operates.
The updated TORs “are not meant to reshape or extend” its mandate, OBSI stresses in a news release.
The TORs have been revised numerous times over the years, and that, as a result, they have become “cumbersome to navigate and in some respects, duplicative and difficult to interpret,” OBSI says.
In updating them, OBSI is seeking to ensure that they are, “structured in a clear and logical manner, and that incorporate and reflect our current practices, procedures and perspectives.”
The revised TORs were developed with the help of an outside consultant, they have also been reviewed by regulators, and provisionally approved by OBSI’s board.
They are now out for public comment until May 31.
Both the updated and exisiting TORs documents are available on OBSI’s website.