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Governance & Transparency

Governance

CIFO is a joint operation of two statutory bodies; the Office of the Financial Services Ombudsman (Jersey) and the Office of the Financial Services Ombudsman (Guernsey), jointly operating under the name Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman. CIFO operates from a single office in Jersey with the same board members and staff. The States of Jersey and Guernsey jointly appoint the board of directors and the board appoints the principal ombudsman and other ombudsman as may be required in accordance with our law.

The board is part-time and non-executive, with four members. It is independent of the Jersey and Guernsey legislature and does not get involved in deciding cases, nor in the day-to-day management of CIFO. Its key roles are to:

  • appoint the ombudsman and help safeguard his/her independence;
  • help ensure that CIFO has adequate resources to handle its work;
  • oversee the efficiency and effectiveness of CIFO; and
  • advise on the strategic direction of CIFO.

The four members of the board are:

Antony Townsend (Chair) currently serves as Chair of the Determinations Panel of the UK Pension Regulator (TPR), and Chair of Entrust (the regulator of the Landfill Communities Fund in England and Northern Ireland). He brings deep experience in complaints handling and regulation. He previously served as the UK’s Financial Regulators Complaints Commissioner, a Director of the Ombudsman Association, Chair of the UK and Ireland Regulatory Board of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, and Chair of the Regulation Board of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants,  Deputy Chair of the UK Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care. Antony is also a former Chief Executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority and General Dental Council in the UK. In the first part of his career, he was a policy civil servant in the UK Home Office working primarily on criminal justice issues.

Rob Girard (Vice Chair) a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers with extensive banking experience with previous roles including Country Head and Director of Institutional Banking for RBS International/NatWest International in Guernsey and Board Director of the NatWest Group Global Captive Insurer. A committee member of the Association of Guernsey Banks for over 10 years. Rob is also a former member of the Juvenile Panel of Guernsey’s Royal Court. Rob is Chair of the Guernsey Banking Deposit Compensation Scheme and as a Commissioner of the Guernsey Language Commission LBG.

Jennifer Carnegie is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of the strategic leadership consultancy firm Amicus Limited, is Chair of Jersey Development Company and is on the board of Jersey Business Ltd.  Jennifer has held several other non-executive directorships with commercial organisations, was formerly President of the Jersey Chamber of Commerce and was a Jersey Appointments Commissioner. In former executive roles Jennifer was Chief People Officer for Digicel, a global telecommunications provider and was an industrial engineer and global director of learning and development for Mars incorporated,  a multinational manufacturer.

Hayley North is the Managing Director of Rose & North Ltd which she founded in 2012. Hayley has over 25 years’ experience in financial services including working for Barclays and Bank of America. As a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society, and Chartered Financial Planner, she regularly presents at conferences as well as frequently contributing to the Daily Telegraph’s Money Makeover segments. Hayley has also been nominated for and won a number of financial awards, mostly in the professional adviser and financial advice spaces.

Click here to view the latest Board Minutes

Transparency

Feedback by CIFO

This involves CIFO publishing information about the cases it has handled and also identifying generic/systemic issues.

This is for the benefit of the States, Guernsey Financial Services Commision (GFSC) and the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC), industry bodies, consumer bodies and the public. This helps to identify common pitfalls, so that consumers and financial services providers can avoid them.

It also helps policy-makers to identify areas where action may be required in order to improve things for the future.

Feedback to the CIFO Board

CIFO is fully-committed to transparency in its operations. Each year, CIFO will post the expenses of each of its directors and the principal ombudsman and chief executive in this section of the website. Click here to view expenses of the Board Directors and Principal Ombudsman

If you have any comments, commendations or concerns that you wish brought directly to the attention of CIFO’s Board of Directors, please click here.