Complaints Training. Guide for Customer Facing

1.

Complaints Training
Guide for Customer Facing
Departments
By Compliance Departments Group wide

2.

OVERVIEW
Complaint definition, categorisation and handling internal
process under the regulations of the Financial Conduct
Authority (‘FCA’) - CCUK
Complaint definition, categorisation and handling internal
process under the regulations of the Cyprus Securities and
Exchange Commission (‘CySEC’) - CCSV
Complaint definition, categorisation and handling internal
process under the regulations of the National Bank of the
Republic of Belarus (‘NBRB’) - CCBEL
Comparison of concepts and procedures between the three
entities.
Examples
Q&A

3.

CCUK - Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’)
COMPLAINT DEFINITION .-
¹ ‘any oral or written expression of dissatisfaction, whether justified or not,
from, or on behalf of a client or potential client about the provision of, or
failure to provide, a financial service, which alleges that the complainant has
suffered (or may suffer) financial loss, material distress or material
inconvenience.’
1.
FCA Handbook section DISP 1.1A.9

4.

CCUK - Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’)
COMPLAINT DEFINITION ANALYSIS .-
1.
The regulator uses the word ‘Any’ when referring to oral or written
expressions of dissatisfaction. This means that we will accept and treat as a Complaint
the statements of dissatisfaction received from clients or potential clients by any
possible means.
ESCALATE AS A COMPLAINT
DISSATISFACTION RECEIVED
THROUGH:
Chat
Email
Social Media
Call
...
DO NOT ESCALATE AS A
COMPLAINT DISSATISFACTION
RECEIVED THROUGH:
NONE
*All have to be escalated

5.

CCUK - Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’)
2.
COMPLAINT DEFINITION ANALYSIS .‘Provision of, or failure to provide, a financial service.’
Every action we take or situation we face within the scope of a business relationship
with one of our clients / potential clients will be considered related to the provision of a
financial service, regardless of the situation not being directly related with a
financial/money matter.
Examples of complaint causes not being directly related with a financial/money
situation but being considered as ‘related to the provision of a financial service’:
Due Diligence (Identity Documents, Source of Funds Wealth...)
Technical Issues of the platform. (some of these issues do not have financial
consequences but need to be considered nonetheless.)
Application of Terms & Conditions and/or other Policies.
...

6.

CCUK - Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’)
3.
COMPLAINT DEFINITION ANALYSIS .Definitions of financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience.’
Note that Compliance will decide if any of these 3 concepts apply to the case and rule it
in or out of scope, accordingly. This decision will not have be made by the person receiving
the Complaint (Customer Facing Staff).
Financial Loss: Action has resulted in a monetary loss.
Material Distress: Action has affected the emotional state of the client (stress, anxiety,
embarrassment...)
Material Inconvenience: Action has caused a difficulty and disruption on the customer’s
life.
The above does not necessarily have to be true. If the client claims it to be true then it will
fall within the definition.

7.

CCUK - Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’)
COMPLAINTS CATEGORISATION
FCA Complaints can be categorised as INFORMAL or FORMAL Complaints. The only
difference between both categories relies on the amount of time that have taken to get
resolved.
INFORMAL COMPLAINT
COMPLAINT RESOLVED
WITHIN 3 BUSINESS DAYS.
DAY OF RECEIPT IS DAY
ZERO
FORMAL COMPLAINT
COMPLAINT NOT
RESOLVED WITHIN 3
BUSINESS DAYS.
As per FCA Regulation,
Formal Complaints will have
to be resolved/formally
answered to within 8 weeks
from their receipt.

8.

CCUK - Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’)
COMPLAINTS HANDLING INTERNAL PROCESS
The Officer that will investigate all FCA Complaints within informal timeframe
is Venyamin Smirkin.

9.

CCSV - Cyprus Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘CySEC’)

10.

CCSV - Cyprus Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘CySEC’)
COMPLAINT DEFINITION .“A statement of dissatisfaction addressed to a firm by a natural or legal person relating
to the provision of an investment service provided under MiFID II, the UCITS Directive or
the AIFMD”.
According to Article 26 (1) of Directive (EU) 2017/565
“Investment firms shall establish, implement and
maintain effective and transparent complaints
management policies and procedures for the prompt
handling of clients’ or potential clients’ complaints.
Investment firms shall keep a record of the complaints
received and the measures taken for their resolution”

11.

CCSV - Cyprus Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘CySEC’)
COMPLAINT’S NATURE .-
According to CySEC, complaints could be related either with a financial product or with a
financial service provided by a CIF (Cyprus Investment Firm).
Examples:
● Due Diligence (Identity Documents, Source of Funds/Wealth...)
● Technical Issues of the web or mobile platform. (some of these issues do not have financial
consequences but need to be considered nonetheless.)
● Application of Terms & Conditions and/or other Policies.

12.

CCSV - Cyprus Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘CySEC’)
COMPLAINT’S NATURE .-
The compliance department should be informed of any client’s expression of dissatisfaction that meets
the following criteria:
1. received via Email through [email protected] or complaints online Website Form;
1. queries/questions received by Customer Support or account managers (via Email, Call…) with
regards to some issue and request for resolution, and, if/when the resolution is offered, the client
remains dissatisfied (keywords): complaint, authorities/regulators, legal actions, lawyers etc;
1. queries/questions received by Customer Support or account managers with regards to some issue
with a request for resolution, nevertheless the query/question is complicated and cannot be
resolved within 72 hrs;
1. recurring questions/queries about the same/identical issue and/or affecting a number of clients;
1. when the content of the complaint text implies that the complaint should be treated as a formal
complaint, i.e. requests for complaint reference number (URN).

13.

CCSV - Cyprus Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘CySEC’)
COMPLAINTS CATEGORISATION
The regulator does not differentiate on the type of complaint, formal or informal.
The company differentiates between a formal complaint and a query (an informal complaint).
Formal complaints will be treated as such only if the client provides details of the causes of the
complaint.

14.

CCSV - Cyprus Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘CySEC’)
COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE - QUERIES (INFORMAL COMPLAINTS)
CC CY has implemented the following procedure for queries/informal complaints handling:
1. When an enquiry/question cannot be resolved immediately by the customer support/sales
agents it should be forwarded through slack to the relevant department.
1. The relevant department will provide the customer support with a proper reply for the
client or if further investigation is required, a task will be opened in Asana for the enquiry.
1. When the investigation is complete a reply will be sent to the client either through
customer support or through the compliance department.
P.S. If the client remains unsatisfied then he needs to be informed that he has a right to
submit a formal complaint via [email protected]

15.

CCSV - Cyprus Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘CySEC’)
Queries/Informal Complaints are (but not limited to):
1. Inquiries/questions
2. Requests to investigate
3. Request to receive a reply from the compliance department
Generally, informal complaints are the
complaints which are easy to be handled
internally and the client is satisfied with the
information provided or the offer for
settlement provided by the company’s
representatives..

16.

CCSV - Cyprus Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘CySEC’)
COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE - FORMAL COMPLAINTS
CC CY has implemented the following procedure for formal complaints handling:
1. Upon reception of a formal complaint it is registered in an internal register with a unique
reference number (URN).
2. The URN is communicated to the complainant within 5 days upon reception of the complaint.
3. The CIF informs the complainant that he should use the URN for any future communication
with the CIF, the Financial Ombudsman/ CySEC.
4. Investigation and final conclusion letter needs to be communicated to the complaint within
two months from the date the initial complaint was received.
5. In case more time is needed and a delay is expected the CIF needs to notify the complainant
for the reasons of the delay and the expected time of completion. Maximum time of
investigation is 3 months from reception of complaint.
6. Monthly report to CySEC of all complaints received and how they are being handled.

17.

CCSV - Cyprus Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘CySEC’)
COMPLAINTS HANDLING PROCEDURE - FLOWCHART
(Marina Zarkaveli is the Compliance officer responsible for all Complaints)
If the responsible Compliance Officer makes a decision that a formal complaint procedure should
be followed regarding the client’s dissatisfaction, the following takes place
Reception of formal
complaint
Outcome of
investigation and
offer to client
Notification of reception
to client with unique
reference number
Client declines offer and
escalates complaint to
Financial Ombudsman
or/and CySEC
Investigation within 2-3
months of the complaint
Client is still dissatisfied
and escalates complaint to
national courts

18.

CCSV - Cyprus Securities and Exchange
Commission (‘CySEC’)
References
*Guidelines on Complaints-handling for the securities and banking sectors, JC 2018 35

19.

CCBEL - National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (‘NBRB’)
COMPLAINT DEFINITION .-
*Clause 1 of Belarusian law ‘On the complaints (appeals) of citizens and legal entities’ defines the
term Complaint as “a demand to restore the rights, freedoms and/or legitimate interests from a
complainant, that have been violated by the actions or omissions of organizations and citizens,
including individual entrepreneurs (hereinafter, unless otherwise specified, - a citizen)”
*There is no dedicated complaint handling procedure specified by the National Bank of the Republic of
Belarus (‘NBRB’). Instead, all complaints other queries/inquiries are handled in accordance with Belarusian
legislation.

20.

CCBEL - National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (‘NBRB’)
Complaints definition and categorisation in the context of Belarusian legislation.-
According to Belarusian legislation there is no such as thing an “informal” complaint. At the same
time, very specific conditions must be met for a complaint to be considered as “formal” or official.
From legal perspective, all communications containing clear expressions of dissatisfaction or
mentions of potential legal actions that we receive from Customers are to be considered as
queries/enqyres and can’t be recognised as a formal complaints.
These can be received via our standard means such as Chat, Email, Social Media or Call.
Nonetheless, according to our Company’s internal policies and in order to provide and maintain
the highest possible level of Customer satisfaction, such cases are treated and referred to
internally as informal complaints.
All unresolved potential complaints must be escalated to the Compliance department and dealt
with accordingly.

21.

CCBEL - National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (‘NBRB’)
Complaints definition and categorisation in the context of Belarusian legislation.-
According to the current Belarusian regulations, only the following can be acknowledged as formal:
Complaints submitted in a printed/written form and delivered to Company’s legal address by post services
or the applicant (his legal representative) himself.
● Complaints submitted by the applicant (his legal representative) leaving a handwritten record in a “Book of
complaints and suggestions” stored in the office at the Company’s legal address.
In addition to Complaints, the Customers can also submit their claims:
● Claims submitted directly to our regulator (no limitations for them to be in a printed/written form in this case).
● Legal claims submitted through Belarusian and International legal system (courts).
It must be noted, that there are no third party organisations conducting Alternative Dispute Resolution under NBRB
regulations and therefore complaints recognised as formal tend to have much more serious repercussions for the
Company in comparison to CCUK and CCSV jurisdictions and must be avoided at all costs.

22.

CCBEL - National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (‘NBRB’)
Complaints handling internal process
1. When a potential complaint is received from a Customer via Email, Webchat, Social media, during a
phone call, etc. it is mandatory for the employee who handled the initial communication to conduct
preliminary investigation and attempt resolving the case immediately.
2. In situations, when immediate resolution is impossible, the case must be forwarded to the relevant
department and the Customer needs to be notified accordingly. The relevant department will provide
Customer Support department with instructions for a proper reply.
3. If further investigation is required or a decision regarding potential resolution must be made, then such
a case needs to escalate to Compliance department via #possible_complaints Slack channel. The
responsible Compliance Officers (currently Venyamin Smirkin and Tatiana Borisenko) must be tagged.
4. If the case/enquiry is directly related to legal matters, then such a case must be escalated to
Compliance department immediately.
5. Once the case is escalated to Compliance department, the decision will be made whether to treat the
case as another enquiry or an informal Complaint. If it is decided to treat the case as informal Complaint,
a dedicated Asana task will be created by responsible Compliance Officer.

23.

CCBEL - National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (‘NBRB’)
Complaints handling internal process (visualised workflow)

24.

COMPARISON OF CONCEPTS & PROCEDURES
CCUK
CCSV
CCBEL
> Regulation - Complaints are
highly regulated by the FCA.
> Regulation - CySEC adheres
to the established in the EU
Reg. regarding Complaints.
> Regulation - In NBRB there is a
lack of strict and formal
regulations on Complaints Pr.
Process highly relies on decisions
made by Compliance/Customer
Facing employees.
> Definition
i) Expression of dissatisfaction
ii) From Client/Potential Client natural or legal person
iii) re. Financial Service (provision
or failure to provide)
iv) Alleged financial loss,
material distress / inconvenience.
> Definition
i) Expression of dissatisfaction
ii) From Client/Potential Client natural or legal person
iii) re. Financial Service or
Product
> Definition
i) Demand to restore the rights,
freedoms and/or legitimate
interests.
ii) From any ‘Complainant’

25.

COMPARISON OF CONCEPTS & PROCEDURES
CCUK
CCSV
CCBEL
> Receipt of Complaints
● All possible means
> Receipt of Complaints
● Website Form / Email to
complaints@... / Through
CS/AMs
> Receipt of Complaints
● Chat, Email, Social Media
or Call.
> Categorisation (FCA)
● Informal -> Resolved
within 3 business days
● Formal -> Not Resolved
within 3 business days.
> Categorisation (Internal)
● Informal -> Easy to
resolve queries.
● Formal -> Non resolved
informal complaints &
Initial Complaints with
reference to URN.
> Categorisation (Internal)
● Informal -> All queries
received that don’t fall
under formal cat.
● Formal -> Legal, Directly to
regulator, by written letter
to legal address, by posting
in Book of Complaints.

26.

COMPARISON OF CONCEPTS & PROCEDURES
CCUK
> Process
Informal ->
CCSV
> Process
i) CS/AM publishes case in
Slack Channel
#uk_informal_complaints
ii) Venyamin investigates
and either resolves within
3 business days or the
case is taken as formal by
Compliance UK.
Formal -> Investigation &
Final response generally
given within 8 weeks.
Informal ->
i) CS/AM publishes case
in Slack Channel
#possible_complaints
ii) Compliance or CS will
investigate and provide a
response. If the client is
not satisfied has to
escalate case to formal.
Formal -> Investigation &
Final response generally
given within 8 weeks.
CCBEL
> Process
Informal ->
i) CS/AM publishes case in
Slack Channel
#possible_complaints
ii) Venyamin & Tatsiana will
decide if treat it as query or
informal complaint, and will
investigate and respond.
Formal -> Rare cases.
Investigation and Final
response generally given
within 2 weeks.

27.

COMPARISON OF CONCEPTS & PROCEDURES
CCUK
> Alternative Dispute Resolution
(‘ADR’)
Financial Ombudsman
Service (‘FOS’)
If a client is not satisfied with our
final response, can escalate the
case to the FOS free of cost.
CCSV
> Alternative Dispute
Resolution (‘ADR’)
Financial Ombudsman of
the Republic of Cyprus
(‘FO’)
If a client is not satisfied with
our final response, can escalate
the case to the FO paying a fee
of 20 Euros.
CCBEL
> Alternative Dispute Resolution
(‘ADR’)
None

28.

EXAMPLES
● 1.- Not a Complaint
CCUK
CCSV
CCBEL
Complaint: No
Category: N/A
Complaint: Enquiry
Category: N/A
Complaint: Enquiry
Category: N/A
Client’s queries can develop
into complaints but are not
complaints in itself.
This is just an enquiry from the
client, but it can develop into
complaint.
An enquiry from the
Customer which could
potentially result in a
complaint.

29.

EXAMPLES
● 2.- Complaints - Tone and expressions
CCSV
CCBEL
Complaint: Yes
Category: Formal/Informal
Complaint: Yes
Category: Informal
Complaint: Yes
Category: Informal
Statement of dissatisfaction
identifiable through tone and
expressions and implying
material distress.
Informal complaint that could
be escalated as an official
complaint if the answer
provided doesn’t satisfy the
client.
Considered informal complaint.
However, depending on the
circumstances and information in
UAA there is a chance that it
could have been treated as
simple query.
CCUK

30.

EXAMPLES
● 3.- Complaints - Reference to Authorities/FOS
CCUK
CCSV
CCBEL
Complaint: Yes
Category: Formal/Informal
Complaint: Yes
Category: Formal
Complaint: Yes
Category: Informal
Statement of dissatisfaction
along with thread to take the
case to the FOS.
Statement of dissatisfaction.
Client mentions FOS.
Despite the fact that the
Customer mentions potential
legal actions, the Complaint
still considered to be informal
according to our standards.

31.

EXAMPLES
● 4.- Complaints - Not a Complaint
CCUK
Complaint: No
Category: N/A
Client’s queries can develop
into complaints but are not
complaints in itself.
CCSV
Complaint: No
Category: Request to
investigate
CCBEL
Complaint: No
Category: Enquiry
All cases related to the technical
issue from the 5th of July are
considered to be informal
Complaints.
However, based on communication
such a case would have been
categorized as an Enquiry.

32.

EXAMPLES
● 5.- Complaints - Complaint mention & Reference to Authorities/FOS
CCUK
CCSV
CCBEL
Complaint: Yes
Category: Formal/Informal
Complaint: Yes
Category: Formal
Complaint: Yes
Category: Informal
Complaint mentioned along
with thread to take the case to
the authorities.
The client gives no other alternative
rather than treating this as a formal
complaint stating that if it’s not
solved according to his wishes he
will direct to the Regulator
Despite mentioned potential
legal actions, such a Complaint
is treated as informal, but it
doesn’t make the case itself any
less serious.

33.

EXAMPLES
● 6.- Complaints - Complaint mention & Reference to Authorities/FOS
CCUK
CCSV
CCBEL
Complaint: Yes
Category: Formal/Informal
Complaint: Yes
Category: Formal
Complaint: Definitely
Category: Still informal
Complaint mentioned along
with thread to take the case to
the authorities.
The client gives no other alternative
rather than treating this as a formal
complaint stating that if it’s not
solved according to his wishes he
will direct to the Regulator
Despite peculiarities in
legislation and categorisation
there is no need to mention,
that should this case be real, all
efforts would be made to
resolve ASAP.

34.

Q&A