DISP App 1.6 Criteria for determining complaints

Article 6(2) provides that a relevant existing complaint is to be determined (so far as practicable) by reference to such criteria as would have applied to the determination of the complaint by the former ombudsman under the former scheme in question immediately before commencement (provided that where the former scheme in question is the FSA scheme, the criteria are those which would have applied to the determination of the complaint by an independent investigator under that scheme at that time).

An exception is, however, made in respect of relevant existing complaints about former IMRO members inherited from the Investment Ombudsman under the IMRO scheme in order to reflect the way in which those complaints have been determined in practice under that scheme. The effect of article 6(2) and 6(11) taken together is that, as with all new complaints received after commencement, these will be determined according to what is, in the opinion of the Ombudsman, fair and reasonable in all the circumstances of the case and will be binding on both parties subject to the complainant's agreement.