FAIS Ombud: how a complaint against your brokerage is handled, and how to answer it

Contents

1. What the FAIS Ombud can and cannot hear
2. How a complaint moves through the office
3. When to point a client to the FAIS Ombud
4. The file the adjudicator will read
5. Who answers for the brokerage, and pitfalls to avoid
6. Frequently asked questions

The FAIS Ombud — formally the Office of the Ombud for Financial Services Providers — is the statutory body that resolves complaints by clients against South African FSPs and their representatives about a financial service they rendered. It tries mediation or conciliation first; if that fails, the Ombud issues a determination that, in the office's own words, carries the effect of a civil judgement of a court. For a brokerage, that means a complaint which reaches the office is no longer a customer-service matter. It is a proceeding, and the outcome turns almost entirely on the file you can put in front of an adjudicator.

This guide follows a complaint from the brokerage's side: what the office can and cannot hear, the stages it goes through, when you must point a client towards it, and what your response should contain. If your question is which ombud a claim dispute belongs to, or how the six-week and six-month periods interact, start with our piece on declined-claim complaints and the NFO / FAIS Ombud split.

What the FAIS Ombud can and cannot hear

The office's mandate defines a complaint as an allegation that a provider contravened the FAIS Act in a way that caused financial prejudice, acted negligently or wilfully in rendering a financial service, or treated the complainant unfairly. The complainant has to be a client — a specific person or group who received the service, or their successors or beneficiaries — not the general public.

Within reach of the office	Outside it
Advice that did not fit the needs the client described	Investment performance, unless a return was guaranteed or fraud or negligence is suggested
An exclusion, waiting period or premium change that was never disclosed	A matter already before a court, or taken to court during the investigation
Intermediary service that caused a loss: a lapse, a policy not placed, an instruction not carried out	Acts that took place before 30 September 2004
Unfair treatment by the FSP or its representative	Claims above R3 500 000, unless the complainant abandons the excess or the respondent consents

Two further gates apply before the office will look at anything. The complainant must first have tried to resolve the matter with the provider, and must lodge within three years of becoming aware of the concerns about the financial service, as the office's pre-requisites page sets out. In practice, the first gate is where your brokerage either closes the matter or shapes the record the Ombud will later read.

How a complaint moves through the office

1. The client complains to you. In a WhatsApp thread, a voice note, a call, an email. Your internal complaints framework under Part XI of the General Code of Conduct applies from that moment, whatever the channel.
2. You give a final response. If you uphold the complaint, you put it right. If you reject it, or the client remains unhappy, your response gives reasons and tells the client about the right to go to the FAIS Ombud.
3. The client lodges with the office. Usually through the online portal linked from the FAIS Ombud website, with copies of what passed between you.
4. The office checks jurisdiction and contacts you. Expect a request for your version of events and supporting documents. This is the moment the case is effectively won or lost.
5. Adjudication and recommendation. An adjudicator reviews the documents, may ask either party for more, and may send both a recommendation aimed at early settlement. A party that rejects it must give written reasons within the period the office sets.
6. Determination. If the matter is still unresolved, the Ombud issues a determination, which may dismiss the complaint or uphold it in whole or in part. The office says each case is dealt with on its merits and that no strict timeframe can be observed.
7. Appeal. According to the office's determination process page, leave to appeal may be sought within one month of the date the determination is signed; if the Ombud refuses leave, the applicant may petition the Financial Services Tribunal under section 28(5)(b)(ii) of the FAIS Act 37 of 2002. Reconsideration by the Tribunal is governed by section 230 of the Financial Sector Regulation Act, and its time periods are those in section 230(2) — take legal advice the day the determination arrives, not the week before a deadline.

Published determinations are available on the Determinations section of the office's website. Reading a handful in your own product lines — funeral cover, motor, credit life — is the fastest way for a key individual to see what adjudicators treat as adequate disclosure and what they treat as a gap.

When to point a client to the FAIS Ombud

Not at the first sign of irritation. Telling an unhappy client on the first message to "take it to the Ombud" reads as a refusal to engage, and it skips the step the office itself requires. The right moment is your final response: when you have investigated and either reject the complaint or cannot resolve it to the client's satisfaction. That response should state your reasons and the escalation route with its time limits, and it belongs in a document the client can keep, not only in a chat bubble.

Two messages a brokerage might use, adapted to its own complaints procedure:

Acknowledgement, the day the complaint arrives:
"Good afternoon {name}, thank you for your message. We are treating it as a formal complaint. {compliance_officer}, our compliance officer, is handling it and will come back to you in writing. If you have documents or screenshots you want us to consider, please send them here."

Cover note for the final response:
"Good morning {name}, our written response to your complaint is attached as a PDF. It explains our findings and our reasons. If you are not satisfied, the letter also sets out how to refer the matter to the FAIS Ombud and the time limits that apply. You are welcome to reply here with any questions."

The point of the second message is that the escalation route lives in the attached letter, which survives a phone change and can be produced later. The thread simply proves it was sent and read.

The file the adjudicator will read

Most FAIS complaints are decided on documents created long before the complaint: what the client told you, what you recommended, and what you disclosed. When the office asks for your version, assemble it as one coherent bundle rather than a stack of forwards.

• The needs analysis and the record of advice, including why the product was considered suitable and which alternatives were set aside.
• The disclosures made at the time: product terms, exclusions, waiting periods, premiums and any fees or commission.
• The full WhatsApp thread with the client, exported with dates and times and the name of each person who wrote on the brokerage's side — not cropped screenshots. Voice notes should be transcribed or summarised in the client record.
• Policy schedules, insurer correspondence and any instructions the client gave you.
• The complaints register entry: when the complaint was received, how it was categorised, what was done and when, and the final response with its reasons.
• A short covering narrative in plain language that walks the adjudicator through the chronology, with each statement pointing to a document.

Retention is what makes this possible. The General Code expects records of advice and client communications to be kept and retrievable for years after the product ends; our guide to FAIS record-keeping for WhatsApp conversations covers how to keep a thread that outlives the representative's handset.

Who answers for the brokerage, and pitfalls to avoid

The response to the office should come from a person with authority over the complaints function — typically the key individual or the compliance officer — even if a senior representative investigates. Check your professional indemnity policy as soon as the office's notice arrives: most policies have notification conditions, and a late notification is an avoidable argument with your own insurer.

• Answering the Ombud with the chat history alone. A thread shows what was said, not why the product was chosen. Without the record of advice it often reads as a gap.
• Letting the representative concerned draft the response unsupervised. It tends to argue with the client rather than evidence the advice.
• Ignoring a recommendation. Rejecting it is allowed; doing so without written reasons is not, and silence leaves the adjudicator with only the client's account.
• Continuing the argument on WhatsApp once the office is involved. Keep client contact courteous and factual; the substance now goes through the adjudicator.
• Treating a determination as the end of the matter. It is enforceable, and any appeal route has its own deadlines.

Where tooling helps is upstream. In ORIS the client conversation sits in a shared inbox against the customer record rather than on one person's phone, incoming messages are classified so a thread needing human intervention raises a notification, audit logs show who replied and when, and the record can be exported to CSV for the compliance file. It does not decide whether a complaint is justified or write the reasons in your final response; that judgement stays with the brokerage. More on the surrounding obligations sits under compliance and regulation.

Frequently asked questions

Is the FAIS Ombud the same as the National Financial Ombud?

No. The FAIS Ombud deals with complaints about financial services rendered by FSPs and their representatives, such as advice and intermediary service. Disputes about an insurer's own decisions, such as a repudiated claim, go through the insurer and then the National Financial Ombud Scheme. One unhappy client can have a matter with each.

Can a client go straight to the FAIS Ombud without complaining to us first?

The office requires the complainant to have tried to resolve the complaint with the responding party first, and advises keeping proof of that attempt. If a client skips that step, the office will normally direct them back to you, so make sure your complaints procedure and contact details are easy to find.

Is a FAIS Ombud determination binding on the brokerage?

Yes. The office states that its determinations have the effect of a civil judgement of a court. A party that disagrees may seek leave to appeal within one month of signing, and the Financial Services Tribunal can reconsider decisions under section 230 of the Financial Sector Regulation Act.

Does a WhatsApp conversation count as evidence?

It is often the most direct evidence of what was said, provided it is complete, dated and attributable. A full export from a system that logs the sender is far more persuasive than screenshots, and it should sit alongside the record of advice rather than replace it.