End to costly financial disputes in court

PARLIAMENT yesterday unanimously approved the creation of a Financial Ombudsman, offering a cheaper and more simplified option of dealing with economic disputes.

According to the law, which was submitted to the House Legal Affairs Committee in 2007 and only reached the Plenum yesterday, consumers can apply to the Ombudsman to seek out-of-court settlements on disputes with financial institutions (FI).

Consumers will be able to submit complaints of a financial nature and the Ombudsman can mediate and arrange a friendly out-of-court settlement.

The measure doesn’t include co-op banks and the Ombudsman’s decisions won’t be legally binding. The Body will also be able to examine and resolve cross-border financial disputes.

Basically, consumers will be able to seek compensation without having to go through exhausting court procedures. However, if consumers wish, they can turn to court.

The Ombudsman is a legal person of public justice, for whom a board of directors will be appointed – comprising of spokesmen for local authorities, FI spokesmen and a representative for consumers – as well as a Financial Commissioner, a deputy Financial Commissioner and staff employed by the Ombudsman.

The Body will be funded by personal contributions from each FI that has a complaint filed against it, a standard annual contribution from each FI, depending on its activities, and by the consumer who will pay a small fund for his complaint.

The House Plenum’s decision was unanimous with all MPs agreeing it was a positive measure that would be in the consumers’ best interests.

The Legal Affairs Committee chairman, DISY’s Ionas Nicolaou, said if there were any problems in its implementation, amendments would be made.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.