Ombud Council AR 2026

PART A: GENERAL INFORMATION

7. Legislative and Other Mandates T he Ombud Council derives its mandate from the FSR Act. Chapter 14 of the FSR Act establishes the Council and confers oversight, enforcement, and regulatory powers on it in relation to financial sector statutory and industry ombud schemes.

its administrative actions are subject to the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (Act 3 of 2000). The FSR Act also confirms (section 175(3)) that the Council is a national public entity as defined in the PFMA, and the Council has been listed as a public entity under schedule 3A of the PFMA since April 2023. The Council forms part of the regulatory ecosystem governing the financial sector, particularly the financial consumer protection framework. The Council is therefore impacted by and supports the development of the larger body of financial sector law within which ombud schemes and the financial institutions covered by them operate. Chapter 16 of the FSR Act, read with the Levies Acts, facilitates the funding of the Council’s operations through levies collected from financial institutions.

The main objective of the Council, per section 176 of the FSR Act, is to assist in ensuring that financial customers have access to, and are able to use, affordable, effective, independent and fair alternative dispute resolution processes for complaints about financial institutions in relation to financial products, financial services, and services provided by market infrastructures. The Council is defined as a financial sector body in section 1 of the FSR Act, and section 96 provides that

Ombud Council 2025/26 Annual Report

12