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Letter Summary:
The AMF has published for consultation a new version of the draft Regulation respecting complaint processing and dispute resolution in the financial sector. The Notice of Consultation as well as the draft Regulation are available in the “Public Consultations” section of the AMF Website. The first version of this draft Regulation, published in the fall of 2021, generated many comments, particularly regarding the regulatory compliance burden it imposed. Thus, some rules and practices have been reviewed in order to allow greater flexibility for financial institutions, financial intermediaries and credit assessment agents in the processing of complaints, while maintaining the AMF’s objective to ensure that consumer complaints are processed fairly.
The AMF plans to hold a meeting early January 2023 to discuss the changes and answer questions from participants. It also plans to address the new rules applicable to the reporting of complaints to the AMF.
Overview of the Council’s Comments:
The Council continues to support efforts to strengthen and harmonize the complaint handling process across various financial sectors in Québec and believes a number of proposed provisions in the Draft Regulation are an improvement to the existing regulations, including:
- the notion of a common set of rules relating to the fair processing of complaints
- enabling financial institutions with the ability to identify recurring issues and take action to address them
- a process that allows for faster resolution of complaints that can be effectively handled within 10 days of receipt. For other types of complaints, including those where the complainant is a vulnerable client, the possibility to extend the time period for processing a complaint beyond 60 days to up to 90 days
With respect to the definition of a complaint itself, the Draft Regulation proposes a broader definition than in the original consultation. However, a complaint should also cover potential clients as well as former clients of the named institutions.