3 Comments

So clearly written Simon. And you are completely right, of course!

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I agree with your interpretation and the bias/preference of the ombudsman towards the industry. Is it a sign of a captured service or a way of pre-empting more such cases in the future? I lean towards the first but other rulings might show otherwise. Thank you for the article. It was most helpful.

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Simon: I share your frustration, especially when the ombudsman rules that industry precedent and unpublicised small print trumps fair dealing. When I last looked, Treating Customers Fairly was a mantra that the financial services industry was bound by. Perhaps you should complain to the FCA or whatever it is called these days.

There is a lesson to be learned here: namely that the more complicated a transaction, the higher the likelihood of an unintended outcome. So try to simplify one complex transaction into a series of smaller ones which would be less accident prone. I had a very similar occasion relating to the transfer of investments between managers. When I discovered that one of them could not be transferred in specie, I went ahead with a transfer of those could be so transferred, and dealt with the remaining holding later. This should not be necessary, but it is analogous to defensive parking!

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