Financial services ombudsman Joe Meade has called for a shake up of financial supervision to bring all An Post products under his remit and to create a new code of conduct for the sale of travel insurance.
Mr Meade, who has dealt with more than 1,600 complaints against financial services institutions so far this year, was speaking at the launch of his 2005 annual report, which covers the first nine months of his office's operation. Over this period, he received some 2,600 complaints, with 1,734 of these relating to insurance companies and 870 to credit institutions.
This marked an increase of 23 per cent on the complaints received during the same period in 2004 by the two non-statutory groups then covering these areas - with a 25 per cent increase for credit institutions and 21 per cent for insurance complaints.
Mr Meade said he was determined to exercise his full powers "where necessary", pointing to instances where he had already made awards of up to €56,000 against financial institutions. Legislation permits him to allow compensation of up to €250,000 per complaint and his awards are binding.
Mr Meade investigated 1,368 of the complaints he received last year, upholding 374 of these, with a further 359 settled. The remaining 635 were either not upheld or were found to be outside his remit. He also referred a number of issues to the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority, including cases involving mortgage protection policies, payment protection policies and changing interest rates.
Most recently, the ombudsman asked the regulator to engage with credit card providers on the charging of interest. He wants to make sure that credit card payments made on time are processed before interest is charged.
He has already had discussions with the VHI on putting new procedures in place that would ensure all customers are automatically informed of their entitlements at all times.
On travel insurance, he wants to draw up a code of conduct to cover products sold directly by travel agents or tour operators rather than insurance companies. He said consumers are being sold cover that "doesn't stand up" and that they have no recourse to his office on such matters.
Mr Meade also believes that all financial services products sold by An Post should be brought under his domain because his is the only office that can make directions and award compensation in such cases. The products, including gift vouchers and bill payments, currently fall under the Ombudsman and Information Commissioner, Emily O'Reilly, but Mr Meade has asked the Department of Finance to change this. "I expect a favourable outcome," he said, adding that he simply wanted to create a "level playing pitch", having received some complaints in relation to the An Post products in question.
He has also received a number of complaints about Special Savings Incentive Accounts and expects to come across more.
The ombudsman called upon the Law Society to resolve an ongoing dispute between the VHI and solicitors who are unhappy with a particular accident-related provision. He highlighted medical consultants for comment too, saying they should be cautious about telling patients that insurance claims will be met when in fact they are not covered.
Mr Meade confirmed yesterday that he would probably be prevented from investigating alleged mis-selling of endowment mortgages in the late 1980s and early 1990s because complaints would be statute-barred.
"That is the law as it is laid down," he said, explaining that his office could not investigate complaints relating to products sold more than six years earlier.
