Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 300: To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the complaint by many consumers that they were missold endowment policies; his views on the feature of the financial ombudsman whereby a case cannot be taken if the conduct occurred more than six years before the complaint was made and on the fact that this will exclude complaints regarding such misselling. [22106/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority — the financial regulator — is currently studying the situation with regard to endowment loan shortfalls, having commenced a survey last year, to determine whether and to what extent there will be difficulties for customers. It would be inappropriate to reach any conclusions in this issue in advance of IFSRA's consideration of the matter. The authority's consumer director has encouraged people to come forward if they are concerned about the possibility of having been mis-sold an endowment mortgage. The financial regulator has emphasised the importance of bringing complaints in the first instance to the financial institution from which they bought the policy.

The recently appointed Financial Services Ombudsman, whose office became operational on 1 April this year, is statutorily independent and is empowered to deal with complaints from customers of financial service providers. As stated by the Deputy, the ombudsman can deal with complaints related to conduct occurring up to six years before the complaint was made.

In addition, under the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland Act 2004, a provision exists for consumers to make complaints if the latest occurrence of the conduct being complained about happened within the last six years.

Consistent with the approach adopted in the Pensions Ombudsman scheme, it was considered essential to insert a retrospection limit on the investigation of complaints by the Financial Services Ombudsman. It would not be practical for the ombudsman to be asked to investigate complaints into conduct that occurred many years previously. In addition, while there is a time limit on the jurisdiction of the Financial Services Ombudsman, the financial regulator can examine conduct which occurred before the six year period.

It is important to bear in mind also that while the Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland Acts 2003 and 2004 provided for the roles of both the regulator and the ombudsman scheme concerning complaints about financial institutions, there was no diminution in the right of the consumer to have recourse to legal action through the courts.