AMI "deeply concerned" over FCA changes to FOS

This week the FCA confirmed it will extend access to FOS to include larger SMEs, announcing that respondents had “strongly supported” this extension of FOS.

However the AMI says that of the 65 responses, 13 - predominantly trade associations who responded on behalf of their members - raised fundamental objections to extend the eligibility.

The AMI says the voices of, and the fees paid, by mortgage and protection advisers, providers, and other firms "are not insignificant". It added that the FCA's claim of agreement from the “significant majority” is misleading, particularly as a fifth of those who agreed were from individuals or SMEs themselves.

Robert Sinclair, chief executive of AMI, said: “By diminishing the pushback to this extension it is apparent that the FCA had already decided it was going ahead with its proposals and has tried to find the justification. To take the number of responses into account rather than who they represent is a skewed approach to analysing feedback.

"The minutes from the FCA’s Board meeting in July, published nearly a week before the policy statement, show that this was not even a consideration in their decision.

"It has never been intended that those acting for business or professional reasons are afforded the same protections as consumers.

"However we are moving to a world where the regulator considers every area of ‘harm’ as their responsibility and that it is easier to simply widen its scope rather than address the issue directly. Accessing dispute resolution on a fair and reasonable basis rather than a proper legal dispute procedure through the courts is just inappropriate.”