BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – There is no need of a lawyer if you want to lodge a complaint against a financial service provider.
This is done with an intention to make cases to be done in a speedy manner and with less formality. This was said by Ombudsman of Financial Services (OFS) Nondumiso Simelane. This was during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today (Tuesday, June 11, 2024) at the OFS offices at Ingcamu Building in Mbabane. She was explaining how the OFS worked.
However, Simelane emphasised that having no need of a legal representative did not mean that lawyers’ services were not needed. She said it was a right of complainant to bring their legal representatives when they approached the OFS.
Explaining how her office worked, the ombudsman stated that the OFS was established in terms of Section 74 of the Financial Services Regulation Act of 2010. According to this legal provision, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) is supposed to appoint a person that would intervene whenever there is a dispute between financial service providers (which are not banks) and their clients.
The OFS also has other professionals who are working at the Office of the OFS, with the OFS herself being the head of the Office. The Office for now has one branch, which is in Mbabane, but it has made means to stretch its services to all the four administrative regions of the country. However, for that to be possible, the Office has partnered with the Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration Commission.
This then makes the Office to be available in places such as Pigg’s Peak (Hhohho Region), Simunye (Lubombo Region), Manzini, Matsapha (both Manzini Region), and Nhlangano (Shiselweni Region).
Disputes that can be before the OFS relate to the following:
- Savings and Credit Cooperatives
- Pension and Provident Funds
- Insurance Companies
- Investment Companies which invest people’s money
- Life Insurances
Who can approach the OFS?
- Ordinary person
- Member of a savings and credit cooperative
- A person in charge of a retirement fund
- Business
- Anyone who provides a financial service
