The Financial Industry Complaints Service (FICS) is addressing financial planners’ concerns about the transparency of the alternative dispute resolution body’s decision-making process.

More than 80 planners turned up to a Sydney forum on February 29 to hear FICS CEO Alison Maynard discuss issues as diverse as the opinion process, lawsuits from complainants, how the review panel calculates loss, problems with clients moving from one licensee to another and the liability of advisers.

“The sort of information we receive at these forums helps inform us when we look at processes in the future,” Ms Maynard told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “It also helps improve members’ understanding of the panel and how we deal with complaints.”

She says the forum was a great success and she plans to hold others in Brisbane and the Gold Coast in the next couple of months.

FICS has also issued a “complaints manual”  to guide members through the FICS process, which is available on the website, www.fics.asn.au

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