Michael Lauber, the CEO and Ombudsman of the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI), will retire June 30, the organization announced today.

“The country owes a debt of gratitude to Mike Lauber for his work as Canada’s first ombudsman for banking and investment services,” said Peggy-Anne Brown, chairwoman of the Ombudsman’s board of directors. “Canadians have been well served by his independence, his integrity and his impartiality.”

OBSI is an independent third party dispute resolution body that investigates unresolved customer complaints involving banks and other deposit-taking institutions, investment dealers, mutual fund dealers and mutual fund companies. An independent board of directors and a team of 20 employees provide this objective dispute resolution service across Canada.

Lauber was hired in 1996, soon after the organization was launched as The Canadian Banking Ombudsman Inc. Its original mandate was to investigate complaints by banks’ small business customers. During almost nine years, he helped expand the service to include individual bank customers in 1998, and customers of investment and mutual fund dealers and mutual fund companies in 2002.

“The Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments is a strong team, and we are privileged to have benefited from Mike Lauber’s diligence and effectiveness,” Brown said. “During this time of change, the important work of protecting consumers will continue.”