FCA extends consultation into the way it deals with complaints
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has extended the deadline for a consultation into the way it and other governing bodies handle complaints.
The City watchdog launched a joint consultation in July with the Bank of England and the Prudential Regulation Authority, that proposed simplifying the way complaints about their work is dealt with and suggested a £10,000 cap on redress.
The consultation was set to close today (14 September) but has now been extended to 12 October after MPs complained about the short eight-week timeframe.
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Mel Stride, chair of the Treasury Committee, had complained that providing eight weeks to respond was “ill-advised” amid the pandemic.
“The committee will no doubt take a great interest in the findings of the consultation,” he said.
“To ensure it is as thorough as possible, the regulators should give serious and urgent consideration to extending the consultation period.”
The FCA has faced several complaints about its regulatory oversight.
It has been criticised for authorising peer-to-peer property platform Lendy at the same time as it was ordering it to pay redress and has also faced questions over its approach to mini-bond firms and the collapse of the Woodford equity income fund.
Transparency campaigner Gina Miller issued a report last year setting out several failings of the FCA.
The report said the FCA failed to “regulate properly Lendy which collapsed, costing 9,000 investors up to £90m.”
It also highlighted failures to regulate the investment fund sector properly and a lack of response to whistleblowers relating to collapsed mini-bond provider London Capital & Finance.
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