Reconsiderations and Complaints About OBSI

Complaints about OBSI 

OBSI endeavors to provide dispute resolution services that are fair, accessible, impartial, timely and responsive to banking and investment firm customers. If you are not satisfied with our services, you disagree with our conclusions or you have concern about our compliance with our regulatory commitments, you may raise the matter with us so we can address it. There are three ways you can let us know if you are unhappy about the service we have provided: complaints about the outcome of your case, complaints about our failure to meet our regulatory obligations, and complaints about our level of service to you. 

 

Complaints about the outcome of your case:

While we understand you may be dissatisfied or disagree with our decision, we generally only change our original decision if we find the investigator made a mistake, or if we receive previously unavailable information that would lead us to make a different recommendation.

A reconsideration request must be made in writing by completing the form below. We must also receive your request within 30 days from the date of our letter that informed you of our investigation conclusions or mandate decision.

Begin the reconsideration process

Submit your Reconsideration Request Form:

Email:

reconsiderations@obsi.ca

Mail:

Reconsideration Request

Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments
20 Queen Street West, Suite 2400, P.O. Box 8
Toronto, ON M5H 3R3

Fax:

1-888-422-2865 to the attention of Reconsideration Request

OBSI is committed to handling reconsideration requests in a fair and impartial manner. When you submit a reconsideration request, a Reconsideration Officer, who has not been previously involved in your case, will review your request.

We will acknowledge receipt of your request within 5 business days. The Reconsideration Officer will review the information you have provided and may contact you to obtain further information. The Reconsideration Officer will then inform you of our decision and explain the reasons to you in writing.

A Reconsideration Officer will typically provide a final response to a reconsideration request within 45 business days of being assigned the request.

If a reconsideration request is made, the statutory limitation period in respect of a Complaint will be suspended from the time the Complaint is submitted to OBSI until a reconsideration review has been completed by OBSI, or the time for requesting a reconsideration review has expired.

The decision of the Reconsideration Officer or Ombudsman is final. When you use OBSI's services you do not give up any of your legal rights to pursue resolution in other forums such as in the courts. Therefore, OBSI's decisions and conclusions cannot be appealed to a court or other higher body. To maintain the independence and impartiality of our staff, our Board of Directors does not examine specific cases.

Complaints about our failure to meet our regulatory obligations:

OBSI has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) that provides for securities regulatory oversight of OBSI as well as a framework for cooperation and communication. The oversight framework provides standards for OBSI to meet with respect to:

  • governance,
  • independence and standard of fairness,
  • processes to perform functions on a timely and fair basis,
  • fees and costs,
  • resources,
  • accessibility,
  • systems and controls,
  • core methodologies for dispute resolution,
  • transparency in respect of material changes to OBSI's operations or services, including material changes to its terms of reference or by-laws, and
  • information sharing with the CSA, including regarding issues that appear to affect multiple clients of one or more firms.

A Joint Regulators Committee (JRC) has been established, which includes representatives of the CSA's designates (Alberta Securities Commission, British Columbia Securities Commission, Autorité des marchés financiers, and Ontario Securities Commissions), the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada and the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (IIROC and the MFDA). OBSI meets with the JRC on a regular basis to discuss governance and operational matters, as well as significant issues that could impact the effectiveness of the dispute-resolution system.

OBSI is the approved External Complaint Body (ECB) for banking complaints under the Bank Act and operates according to the federal Complaints Regulations established by the federal Department of Finance and overseen by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC). These regulations address matters such as:

  • operating with the standards of good character and integrity,
  • making our services available in French and English,
  • offering our services free of charge to consumers who make a complaint,
  • accepting any bank that requests membership as a member,
  • making information available to consumers about their rights and responsibilities in relation to external complaints handling, responding to their inquiries and requests for information, and offering them assistance in making a complaint,
  • providing our decision about any part of a complaint that falls outside of our mandate within 30 days of receiving the complaint,
  • advising the FCAC Commissioner if any complaint raises a systemic issue,
  • informing the parties to a complaint about our terms of reference and procedures and providing assistance to understand them,
  • dealing with complaints in a manner that affects only the parties to them,
  • providing our conclusions in writing within 120 days of receiving all of the required complaint information,
  • making a summary of the final recommendation available on our website 90 days after making a final recommendation,
  • consulting at least annually with banks and consumers who have complained about our services and performance,
  • submitting an annual report to the FCAC Commissioner and making the report public, and
  • submitting to an independent evaluation of our services every five years.

The full list of requirements can be found in the Bank Act section 627.49 here.

If you have a question or concern about OBSI's compliance with the obligations discussed above, please submit your compliance question or complaint in writing by filling out the form below.

Compliance Complaint Form

Submit your Compliance Complaint Form to our Chief Compliance Officer:

Email:

compliance@obsi.ca

Mail:

Chief Compliance Officer

Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments
20 Queen Street West, Suite 2400, P.O. Box 8
Toronto, ON M5H 3R3

Fax:

1-888-422-2865 to the attention of Chief Compliance Officer

An acknowledgement response will be provided by the Chief Compliance Officer or designate within 5 business days.

While we review your question or complaint, we may contact you for additional information. We may also contact the regulator(s).

You will receive a response within 60 days.

OBSI is committed to handling compliance complaints in a fair and impartial manner, consistent with our regulatory obligations, and we take your concerns seriously. However, please note that the Chief Compliance Officer cannot review mandate decisions or investigation conclusions (complaints about those matters must be made in accordance with our reconsideration process described above).

When your complaint is received, the Chief Compliance Officer will review whether OBSI has properly followed its policies and procedures and its regulatory obligations described above. The Chief Compliance Officer may recommend changes or modifications to our operations if compliance-related issues are identified. The regulator(s) may be informed of the matter and any action(s) OBSI takes.

You may also contact FCAC directly for banking-related compliance issues: How to contact FCAC.

 

Complaints about our level of service:

If you are dissatisfied with the level of service we have provided - whatever the actual outcome of your case - you can submit a service complaint. For example, we want to hear if you think, in handling the case, we have treated you rudely or unfairly, or failed to explain things properly.

We take all complaints seriously. If you submit a service complaint, a member of our management team will review and respond to your concerns. 

Address your service complaint:

Email:

service@obsi.ca

Mail:

Service Complaints

Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments
20 Queen Street West, Suite 2400, P.O. Box 8
Toronto, ON M5H 3R3

Fax:

1-888-422-2865 to the attention of Service Complaints

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