DISP 1.10B Payment services and electronic money complaints reporting
- (1)
1Once a year a credit institution that provides payment services or issues electronic money must provide the FCA with a complete report concerning complaints received about payment services and electronic money.
- (2)
Once a year an electronic money institution, a payment institution or2 a registered account information service provider 2must provide the FCA with a complete report concerning complaints received about payment services and electronic money.
- (3)
The report required by (1) and (2) must be set out in the format in DISP 1 Annex 1AD.
- (1)
In contrast to the other provisions in DISP 1 which generally apply only to complaints from eligible complainants, the complaints reporting directions apply in addition to complaints from payment service users that are not eligible complainants.
- (2)
Payment service providers are reminded that regulation 101 of the Payment Services Regulations contains requirements relating to complaints resolution procedures applicable to complaints from payment service users that are not eligible complainants.
Forwarded complaints
A respondent must not include in the report a complaint that has been forwarded in its entirety to another respondent under the complaints forwarding rules.
Where a respondent has forwarded to another respondent only part of a complaint or where two respondents may be jointly responsible for a complaint, then the complaint should be reported by both respondents.
Joint Reports
Respondents that are part of a group may submit a joint report to the FCA. The joint report must contain the information required from all respondents concerned and clearly indicate the respondents on whose behalf the report is submitted. The obligation to provide a report, and the responsibility for the report, remains with each respondent in the group.
Not all the respondents in the group need to submit the report jointly. Respondents should only consider submitting a joint report if it is logical to do so, for example, where the firms have a common central complaints handling team and the same accounting reference date.
Information requirements
DISP 1 Annex 1AD requires, for the relevant reporting period and in respect of particular categories of products:
- (1)
in Table 1, information about the total number of complaints received by the respondent and the cause of the complaint;
- (2)
in Table 2, information about the number of complaints that were:
- (a)
closed or upheld within different periods of time; and
- (b)
the total amount of redress paid by the respondent in relation to complaints upheld and not upheld in the relevant reporting period; and
- (a)
- (3)
in Table 3, information providing context about the complaints received.
When completing the return, the respondent should take into account the following matters.
- (1)
If a complaint could fall into more than one category, the complaint should be recorded in the category which the respondent considers to form the main part of the complaint.
- (2)
Under DISP 1.10B.7D(2)(a), a respondent should report information relating to all complaints which are closed and upheld within the relevant reporting period, including those resolved under DISP 1.5 (Complaints resolved by close of the third business day). Where a complaint is upheld in part, or where the respondent does not have enough information to make a decision yet chooses to make a goodwill payment to the complainant, a respondent should treat the complaint as upheld for reporting purposes. However, where a respondent rejects a complaint, yet chooses to make a goodwill payment to the complainant, the complaint should be recorded as ‘rejected’.
- (3)
If a respondent reports on the amount of redress paid under DISP 1.10B.7D(2)(b) redress should be interpreted to include an amount paid, or cost borne, by the firm, where a cash value can be readily identified, and should include:
- (a)
amounts paid for distress and inconvenience;
- (b)
a free transfer out to another provider which transfer would normally be paid for;
- (c)
goodwill payments and goodwill gestures;
- (d)
interest on delayed settlements;
- (e)
waiver of an excess on an insurance policy; and
- (f)
payments to put the complainant back into the position the complainant should have been in had the act or omission not occurred.
- (a)
- (4)
If a respondent reports on the amount of redress paid under DISP 1.10B.7D(2)(b) the redress should not include the amount of a non-executed, defective or unauthorised payment transaction but should include any redress paid as a result of losses incurred by the complainant as a result of the non-executed, defective or unauthorised payment transaction.
The relevant reporting period is the year immediately following:
- (1)
where the respondent has an accounting reference date, its accounting reference date; and
- (2)
where the respondent does not have an accounting reference date, 31 December each year.
Reports are to be submitted to the FCA within 30 business days of the end of the relevant reporting periods through, and in the electronic format specified in, the FCA complaints reporting system or the appropriate section of the FCA website.
If a respondent is unable to submit a report in electronic format because of a systems failure of any kind, the respondent must notify the FCA, in writing and without delay, of that systems failure.
- (1)
If a respondent does not submit a complete report by the date on which it is due, in accordance with DISP 1.10B.10D, the respondent must pay an administrative fee of £250.
- (2)
The administrative fee in (1) does not apply if the respondent has notified the FCA of a systems failure in accordance with DISP 1.10B.11R.
A closed complaint is a complaint where:
- (1)
the respondent has sent a final response; or
- (2)
the complainant has indicated in writing acceptance of the respondent’s earlier response under DISP 1.6.4R (where applicable).
- (1)
To improve consumer awareness and to help respondents compare their performance against their peers, the FCA may publish:
- (a)
complaints data about the payment services and electronic money sector as a whole; and
- (b)
respondent level complaints data and information giving context to the complaints data for those respondents that provide appropriate consent in the electronic money and payment services complaints return form at DISP 1 Annex 1AD.
- (a)
- (2)
Although the complaints data publication rules do not apply to a report submitted under DISP 1.10B.1, the electronic money and payment services complaints return form asks for the respondent’s consent to the publication by the FCA of the data contained in the report.