Flurry of complaints busies ombudsman

Desks at the Financial Ombudsman Service are groaning from the workload created by endowment mis-selling complaints

Walter Merricks, head of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), describes himself as operating on the dark side of the industry. The service steps in only when all other complaint avenues are exhausted and customers feel they have been badly served not only by a firm's service but by its complaints procedure as well. Desks at the Docklands-based organisation are groaning under the workload created by complaints stemming from shortfalls in returns from mortgage endowment complaints. Half of the complaints received by ombudsman staff concern alleged endowment mis-selling. They expect to ha...