The Financial Services Complaints Commissioner has published a final report in respect of a complaint raised against FCA for failing to keep a complainant informed as to the progress of its investigation into the firm against which the complaint was raised. Specifically, the Complaints Commissioner criticised:
- FCA’s internal processes for ensuring that complaints it receives are sent to, and actioned by, the correct FCA department (which in this instance had resulted in the complainant’s information regarding the firm under investigation failing to reach the correct personnel); and
- a prioritisation of confidentiality over disclosure resulting in a lack of transparency as to the actions FCA was taking in response to the complaint raised.
The Complaints Commissioner acknowledged FCA had provided compensation and assurances that improvements have been made to its processes for disseminating information internally but noted that it was not clear that the transparency concerns had been addressed.