Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO) is independent in the performance of their statutory functions. As Minster for Finance, I do not have a role in the day-to-day workings of the FSPO’s office and I am not involved in the investigation or decision-making processes of the FSPO.

The Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman (FSPO) is the statutory body established to resolve complaints from consumers, including non-personal customers, businesses and other organisations, about the conduct of regulated financial service providers and pension providers. Complaints brought to the FSPO are examined on their own merit, and can vary in terms of their complexity.

I am advised by the FSPO that it received 4,781 complaints in 2022 and 4,647 complaints were closed. During 2022, over 80% of complaints that closed were closed within 12 months of the complaint being made, mainly through the Registration and Assessment or Dispute Resolution (mediation) processes.

For all complaints that closed in 2022, including both tracker mortgage complaints and other complaints, the average time from receipt of complaint to closure, was 10 months. For non-tracker mortgage complaints that closed in 2022, the average time from receipt to closure, was 8 months. For tracker mortgage complaints that closed in 2022, the average time from receipt to closure, has been significantly longer. The average time to closure for tracker mortgage complaints which closed in 2022, was 3 years and 4 months.

With regard to the oldest complaints on hand with the FSPO, I am advised by the FSPO that these are within the FSPO’s formal investigation or legal review processes. There are 12 complaints on hand that were originally submitted between 2011 and 2014.

There are a number of reasons that some complaints may take a very long time to resolve. By way of example, some of the reasons that contribute to the timeline for such complaints include:

• Any complaint file that was previously closed, and was subsequently re-opened, will have its age calculated from the date it was originally opened, without reference to the period of sometimes years, during which it may have been closed. A file may reopen for a variety of reasons, including a request from a complainant for the FSPO to reconsider its jurisdiction, because of the change in statutory time limits.
• The need to place complaints on hold for a period, because of litigation which has not yet concluded, where it is appropriate to pause the investigation of certain other complaints, because the outcome is likely to have an impact on those other complaints.
• The need to place complaints on hold for a period, at the request of the complainant. This may be for a number of reasons, including reasons of personal circumstance or their wish to seek independent legal or financial advice prior to proceeding in our process, or the need to procure the consent/signature of a joint owner of the account or policy.
• An example of where a large number of complaints were placed on hold related to the Tracker Mortgage Examination (TME), directed by the Central Bank of Ireland in 2015. This led to the placing on hold by the FSOB/FSPO, of large numbers of tracker mortgage complaint investigations pending the outcome of the TME. This is because the view was taken that the best way of ensuring that this Office had all the necessary information to deal with these complaints, was to await the outcome of the TME and confirmation of the impact, if any, of the Examination on such mortgage loan accounts

Other factors that can have a significant impact on timelines include the volume of ongoing submissions from the parties addressing the evidence under consideration during a complaint investigation or the requirement for a formal jurisdictional determination, separate from the investigation of the merits of the complaint made, for instance, if the time limits are at issue, or are challenged by one of the parties.

Finally, in relation to resourcing, the FSPO advises that its resourcing levels and allocation are kept under constant review. As with many State agencies, recruitment is an ongoing priority and while recruitment and retention is currently more challenging than in previous periods, I am informed that as of March 2023 a total of 13 posts had been filled in the year to date.