Complaints Policy

Our Complaints Policy is intended to ensure that any client complaint is dealt with promptly, effectively and with integrity. Our Policy also satisfies our regulatory obligations relating to customer redress. Whilst the Financial Conduct Authority (‘FCA’) and Financial Ombudsman Service (‘FOS’) have rules relating to how Complaints are dealt with, we aim to go beyond this approach in accordance with our culture of placing the best interests of our clients at the heart of all that we do.

All members of the CAM team receive regular training on all aspects of their role, focusing very much on delivering good outcomes to our clients. Part of our training programme focuses upon identifying and dealing with potential Complaints and the emphasis is upon taking a proactive approach to resolution and redress. The Risk and Compliance Department co-ordinate both the formal response to clients who complain and reporting to the Executive Committee and Board. We are proud of our Complaints record and work hard to ensure that we take every step possible to avoid client dissatisfaction. At the same time, we recognise that sometimes situations arise when a client may wish to complain, and we aim to make this process as simple and stress free as possible.

We’d like to explain to you how the Complaints process works. First of all, it’s important to note that we will never levy any charge for investigating a Complaint and all Complaints are thoroughly and appropriately investigated and fairly considered.

5 STEPS TO MAKING A COMPLAINT

1. Tell your CAM contact you want to make a Complaint or send your Complaint in writing to Compliance@city-asset.co.uk.

2. Compliance acknowledges receiving your complaint within 3 days and may ask you for more information.

3. Compliance investigates the grounds for your Complaint. We aim to complete this within 8 weeks of the Complaint being received and will let you know if it is likely to take longer.

4. CAM’s Head of Risk and Compliance, Rebecca Fifield, writes to you with a full assessment of your Complaint and its conclusion and, if appropriate, offers compensation or remedial action.

5. If you’re not happy with our conclusion, you have six months from receiving our final response to refer your Complaint to the FOS.

The FOS categorises a Complaint as ‘an expression of dissatisfaction’. In general, when a member of the CAM team feels that you may want to complain, they will suggest that your expression of dissatisfaction amounts to a Complaint and ask you whether you wish to proceed with making a formal Complaint. If you respond yes, this is the trigger for the procedure set out by the FOS and to be followed by CAM’s Risk and Compliance Department. We will ask you to send us an email or letter giving us full details of the matter.  If the answer is no, we continue to try our best to resolve the situation to your satisfaction.

Within three business days of receiving your written Complaint, the Head of Risk and Compliance, Rebecca Fifield, will write to you outlining our understanding of the Complaint and asking you to add any further information that you may feel is relevant or to correct any misunderstanding of the issue. The Risk and Compliance team will then conduct a thorough investigation of the Complaint, drawing as necessary upon written records, recordings and involving discussions with all staff members involved. We will refer to the FCA’s rules and consider good industry practice. At all times, we will act diligently and impartially.

We aim to conclude all assessments of Complaints within eight weeks of receiving the initial notice that a Complaint is being made. If we cannot provide a full response within eight weeks, we will update you and let you know when we do hope to respond. This may arise, for example, if a Complaint relates to a particularly complex situation or an issue that arose a very long time ago and may require investigations involving third parties. We will keep you updated regarding our progress and explain the reasons for any delay.

At the end of our investigation, we will provide you with our full written assessment of the Complaint. This will outline the subject matter and state whether we believe that the Complaint ought to be upheld. If upheld, it will also outline any compensation, remedy, or other action to set the matter right that we believe is appropriate. And we will let you know if there is any third party who we have found is responsible for the situation. For example, if your Complaint relates to an insurance policy provided by a third party or the adviser that you have complained about now works elsewhere.

If you are satisfied with our conclusion, we will formally close the matter on our records and promptly take any action that may have been agreed to remedy the issue. However, if you remain dissatisfied, you can take your Complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, known as the ‘FOS’. We will co-operate fully with their investigation and comply with any decision that they might make.

Full details of the FOS procedure are available at their website: https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/. You can write to the Ombudsman at Harbour Exchange Square, London E14 9SR.

It is important to note that the FOS does not accept Complaints that relate to investment performance or to tax.

For your information and reassurance, CAM holds full PI insurance coverage.

PLAFORM SECURITIES

Platform Securities LLP (‘PSL) act as custodian and administrator for all our Investment Management clients. As back office and custody functions reside with PSL, we will liaise with them if any portion of a Complaint deals with their services. We will notify you if we believe that this is the case. You can find details of PSL’s Complaints policy here.