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Consumer protection to be enhanced by new committee

Published on 12 Mar 2010 under category: legal

A new consumer protection committee is needed to identify future risks that could impact on both the industry and consumers, according to three watchdogs.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) , the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) today proposed that the committee, run by specialists, could support the three bodies in how quickly they respond to threats in the market.

Ray Watson, the OFT's director of consumer credit, said: "Identifying and dealing with problems at an early stage is important for ensuring consumers do not suffer unnecessary harm from financial products.

"We believe that the proposals for a new co-ordination committee and the focus on risk will improve our ability to deal with problems before they become widespread."

According to the joint report, complaint-handling remains a big concern, with firms reporting around three million complaints to the FSA per year – which do not even include complaints that are resolved by the end of the next business day, which are not mandatory to report to the watchdog.

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