The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS to us) is getting a roasting. They’ve a huge backlog and are costing too much, obvious solution, cut staff numbers. Here’s an alternative. Advisers and providers have argued for years for some sort of time bar on complaints. At the moment you could potentially hold the Prudential to account for a slip of the quill in Scrooge’s day, or at least when Maggie was still on the throne. Bring this down to, say, 10 or 15 years, outlaw the ‘has anyone ever sold you a pension or investment, ever, we can get you your money back’ companies and sanity may return.
“Letter of authority: Why now is the right time for change”
This may sound like a non-issue from outside the world-of-financial-advice bubble. It is the bain, however, of the daily working lives of many of us, particularly of those paid by we advisers to do the dirty work of dealing with the many providers with whom we have to work.