ABI urges FOS to keep decisions secret

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has urged the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) to avoid publishing all of its decisions.

The FOS closed its consultation on publishing all of its decisions on 9 December.

Other organisations, such as the Pensions Ombudsman, already publish all decisions.

However, the ABI today said publishing all decisions indiscriminately could present the public with a "misleading" view of financial services.

"Whilst a small number of consumer complaints can raise broader industry-wide issues, the very individual and unique nature of the vast majority of FOS cases makes reading lessons into thousands of decisions impractical and potentially misleading," the ABI said in a statement.

The association suggested the government should only allow the FOS to publish decisions "that may serve a useful purpose for consumers and firms".

Maggie Craig, director of financial conduct regulation at the ABI, said: ‘"Whilst the ABI supports transparency, it should be a means to an end, not an end in itself."

Yesterday the Investment and Life Assurance Group (ILAG) said publishing all FOS decisions would increase scrutiny on FOS rulings and give succour to the claims management industry.

In September, the FOS dismissed fears that publishing all decisions would wreak reputational damage on individual businesses and particular industries.