Member

Finally, Amendment 44 has echoes of Amendment 17A, but makes a different point, so I hope that the Committee will bear with me. This amendment concerns the interaction between the Bill’s changes to FOS time limits and the FCA’s power to impose consumer address schemes under Section 404 of FSMA. The immediate issue arises from Clause 6, which changes the time limit for complaints under the compulsory jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman. The current six-year time limit corresponds broadly to the limitation period for a legal claim. In the case of a credit agreement, that will generally be six years after the agreement expires. There is rightly a saving provision in legal proceedings where there has been deliberate concealment or fraud. The Bill removes the alternative three-year time limit from when a complainant becomes aware of a claim. I am concerned that alternative limits can produce uncertainty and complexity.