Mr. Ger Deering:

I would ask the banks why they are so determined not to sit down and do the right thing for their customers. I say that even when they bring complaints to our office. From time to time, I have been threatened with judicial review by banks claiming that I am dealing with complaints that are outside my jurisdiction. In our new dispute resolution process, we have told the financial service providers not to worry as much about jurisdiction as about the customer. We have highlighted that this is a customer of theirs who is unhappy and has a complaint. Yet the banks argue that we do not have jurisdiction to deal with it when we are trying to solve the problem for them. I would tell the banks to engage in our dispute resolution processes, because that has the potential to bring solutions much more quickly and in a much less difficult way.

The other issue is very important and it was discussed quite extensively between the Central Bank and this committee. The Central Bank believes that people who could be impacted upon by this examination have been identified and that some banks are unwilling to do the right thing by those complainants. Those complainants need to know that they are affected so that they can make a complaint to us, for example. The committee could ask the banks how they will they notify these people. It is important that they know who they are. The Financial Services Ombudsman Bureau does not know who they are. The Central Bank may or may not know the individual names, though I doubt they do. The banks know who they are, and those people who have been affected need to know. That is what I would ask the banks; how they are going to notify people who believe that they have been affected or whom the Central Bank believes have been impacted upon and who have not received rectification or compensation from the banks.