The move is part of regulatory changes to the complaints handling process from the Financial Services Authority and is a key requirement along the road to compliance in the new regulatory environment.
Of the 54 large financial services companies in the UK interviewed by Charter UK, just 27 had appointed a nominated executive with responsibility for complaints. Of the 27 others, 17 had not yet made a nomination while a further 10 didn’t know if they had made a nomination or not.
Some 51% of insurance companies had made a nomination, compared to 41% of banks and 50% of credit card companies.
Paul Clark, chief executive at Charter UK, said: “This is a concern for the industry. There are just over two weeks to go before firms must show that they have nominated an executive with overall responsibility for complaints.
“Those companies that have yet to identify the individual within their team, or that are unsure if a nomination has been made, need to get moving as soon as possible.
“Our research showed that compliance and customer services are the business units from which the individual is most likely to be selected.
“Whatever the background of the individual, the key thing is to get to grips with the pace of regulatory change in the complaints landscape post-PPI, and to have a real grasp of the people, cultural, processes and systems challenges that prevent organisations from dealing with complaints effectively.
“What’s really worrying is that the companies we’ve spoken to thus far are top 50 UK financial services providers, it’s hard to escape the impression that the figures will look much worse among the smaller players!”
