Complaint levels show health of industry and market

When the FSCL said that rising complaints was good news for financial services a few onlookers scratched their heads.

With the NZI PI insurance debacle fresh in many advisers' memory, some are thinking that rising complaints are proving insurers' fears that providing professional indemnity cover to advisers under the new regime may prove too risky.

But principal of Financial Focus, Murray Weatherston, says that the levels of complaint seen in New Zealand are actually relatively low. For the FSCL in 2020 there were only 298 investigations completed – 91 of which were settled, 103 discontinued and 44 resolved early by the participant. Only 42 cases went all the way through to the end of the process.

Weatherston believes that these numbers reflect the health of the DRS systems and of the industry as a whole.