The Financial Services Ombudsman has said there is a problem with the type of property investment advice given by some Irish financial advisers.
Joe Meade made two awards totalling €55,000 in the second half of last year to two people who had received poor investment advice on foreign properties.
He has referred his concerns about the non-declaration of conflicts of interests by mortgage brokers to the Financial Regulator.
Over 4,300 complaints were made to the Financial Services Ombudsman last year - an increase of 15% on 2006. The Financial Services Ombudsman upheld 2,690 complaints in the period from July to December 2007.
He said that where disputes arose over contracts carried out online or over the phone, he would be disposed to finding in favour of customers where financial services providers had no concrete proof of transactions.
Joe Meade said it would be in the interests of providers to consider retaining the appropriate records for the six-year period within which a person can complain to the Ombudsman. He said that where necessary, they should consider keeping phone recordings of such contractual commitments.
He made the comments following the case of a self-employed carpenter injured at work who was awarded €10,000 because he was sold an inadequate accident insurance policy following a 'cold call'.
The Ombudsman also awarded €10,000 in compensation to a customer of one bank whose business affairs became mixed up with the personal affairs of the bank manager.
Another person was awarded €4,500 in compensation for fraudulent transactions carried out on their new credit card, after it was sent - along with the pin number - to their old home address.
