Michel Reznik reviews the principles of effective dispute resolution & endorses the introduction of a Financial Services Tribunal
- Specialist dispute resolution forums are necessary in markets in which David habitually fights Goliath.
- The Employment, Intellectual Property and Competition jurisdictions are examples where specialist disputes forums have proved essential to give David a chance at justice.
- Adopting the specialist Financial Services Tribunal suggested by Richard Samuel would bring justice within the reach of SMEs.
Since the financial crisis, banks and financial services institutions have been exposed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for mis-conducting themselves, and, in particular, for mis-selling financial products to their SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) clients on an industrial scale. This reputation has been galvanised in the minds of the public by widely-publicised outcomes of investigations into scandals and by enormous fines meted out by regulatory bodies.
Victims of misconduct have rightly expected compensation. The question has been and remains: how and where are they going to get it? The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is not the right forum for disputes of real substance:
