Funding

The cost of the Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman (CIFO) is met by the financial services industry falling within its scope, through annual levies and case fees.

The laws provide for the cost of CIFO to be paid by the financial industry through a combination of levies and case fees. The detail of the funding mechanism for CIFO in the form of case fees and levies payable by financial service providers (FSPs) is set out in CIFO’s schemes and notes. These funding pages provide links to the current schemes, explanatory notes and certification and other forms for FSPs.

Levies

CIFO publishes its funding scheme on this website. Broadly, all FSPs that are within the scope of CIFO and are regulated or registered by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) or the Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) will pay a yearly levy – to cover CIFO’s yearly running costs. FSPs that do not provide relevant financial services or do not deal with the public can claim an exemption by completing a zero rating form. Due to the transactional nature of banking business, it is expected that banks will produce a significant proportion of cases. Therfore, half the levy for annual running costs will be payable by the banks, with the rest divided amongst other types of FSPs.

Case Fee

FSPs will pay a case fee for each case referred to CIFO. The current case fee is set out in the scheme published on this website.