DRS member or not - client care remains advisers’ responsibility

Financial Services Complaints Limited chief executive Susan Taylor told Good Returns she was seeing increasing numbers of complaints about former DRS members, as more advisers retired, sold their business or merged their business with other providers.

DRS’s were hamstrung, she said, by the liability gap left when they could no longer require an adviser to participate in an investigation and a new solution was needed to help better protect consumers.

Financial Markets Manager at MBIE, Tom Simcock, said the ministry was aware the liability gap affected a handful of complaints to schemes each year but consumers were not short of alternatives.

“This issue does not affect the rights of a complainant to take other action, such as through the Disputes Tribunal and the Courts. It also does not prevent participation in a dispute resolution process, provided both the consumer and the provider voluntarily agree.”