DEPUTY Commerce and Employment minister Marc Laine has added his weight to calls for an ombudsman to deal with people’s complaints against banks.

Guernsey Financial Services Commission director-general Nik van Leuven said last week that he actively supported the appointment of an ombudsman.

This came after the UK’s Financial Ombudsman Service announced that financial firms had an average of 59% of complaints against them upheld in the first half of 2009.

Association of Guernsey Banks member Julian Winser said it was generally believed there was no need for a standalone ombudsman, as proportionately fewer complaints were made in Guernsey and they were dealt with satisfactorily.

But Deputy Laine (pictured) said the truth about the size of the problem must be told.

‘The reality is that both the GFSC and the Commerce and Employment Trading Standards department are regularly approached by investors claiming to have lost money due to a whole range of issues not related directly to market performance.

‘I have acted for and attempted to assist a number of investors who claim to have been mis-sold schemes or whose savings had been subject to unauthorised risk and had lost considerable sums as a result,’ he said.

The GFSC does not act as an arbitrator in a dispute between a customer and a financial services business.

Its interest in a complaint is only to see whether it reveals a breach of the financial services regulatory laws or of a condition attached to a licence.

Deputy Laine said the GFSC was powerless to force any kind of redress in the cases he had dealt with.