The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is gathering feedback from key stakeholders in an effort to improve its service.
FOS chief ombudsman Shane Tregillis told InvestorDaily that FOS has embarked on a program to improve its services to the individuals and financial services providers that used its dispute resolution services.
“We’ve made a number of structural changes [in the past 12 months], bringing in place some process improvements, and I thought it was important at the end of those 12 months to get back out here and talk to a broad range of stakeholders,” Mr Tregillis said.
“That includes nearly all the major professional bodies in the financial planning area, major banks and consumer groups – I’ll be touching base with a number of senior executives from a number of larger institutions.
“There are two reasons for doing so; to keep that personal contact, which I think is incredibly important, and also to explain some of the changes we’re putting in place.”
Mr Tregillis said it was important to get some initial feedback around how those stakeholders see their relationship with FOS, to find out what areas it needs to work on.
The process will also include some more formal qualitative and quantitative research of stakeholder views on FOS and the services it provides, he said.
“It’s important for us to know what people think about us and our service and what we need to do better,” he said.
Mr Tregillis said the research had commenced in early December and should be completed by around April this year.
