FOS consultation delayed

The regulator needs more time to assess “radical” options for firms’ fees

Plans to shake-up the way the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is funded have been delayed until April 2008, some 16 months later than scheduled. A joint consultation paper between the FOS and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) was due this Autumn with a view to changing the structure of FOS funding by the end of this year. However, responses to a discussion paper published in May this year, which listed a range of options for the future funding of the FOS, largely favoured the more “radical” options and the FSA said it would need extra time to assess the new model before it can be sure that it can be adopted.