OMBUD COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORT 2024/25

PART A: GENERAL INFORMATION

3. FOREWORD BY THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE BOARD

Ms. Eileen Meyer Chairperson of the Board

T his Annual Report is proudly presented as the second report for the two-year Strategic Plan ending 2024/25, after the Ombud Council listing as a public entity under Schedule 3A to the PFMA in April 2023. It demonstrates that the Ombud Council is on track in fulfilling its mandate. The clean audit achieved again this year underpins this progress. The Ombud Council’s mandate as summarised in its vision statement is: ‘To ensure that a known, trusted and easily accessible ombud system exists for all in the financial sector.’ The Strategic Plan entailed a two-pronged set of priorities: On the one hand, priorities were aimed at capacitating the Council and ensuring it is well governed and sustainability funded. A second set of priorities focused on ensuring delivery of key aspects of its mandate – with plans for improving the coverage and co-ordination of the ombud system; enhancing its visibility and accessibility; facilitating positive regulatory reform; and holding ombud schemes to account by overseeing their conduct. I can confirm with confidence, as this report reveals in more detail, that the Ombud Council’s small, dedicated team has made excellent progress on all of these fronts. In this financial year of 2024/25, operational independence from the FSCA was achieved with the Ombud Council fully capacitated and performing all its corporate functions

through a combination of its own internal and outsourced services. The success of this transition is proven by the achievement of yet another clean audit. The Ombud Council is strategically guided by a skilled Board and Governance Committees, operating effectively through a professionally structured governance framework. Effective internal audit, risk management, financial, performance reporting, and human resources policies and processes fit for purpose for an organisation of the Ombud Council’s size and scale are all in place. Where core statutory functions are concerned, the focus was on using the Council’s statutory powers to achieve its strategic objectives. Priorities were to develop Ombud Council Rules to govern the processes of the two statutory ombud schemes; to streamline complaint data reporting from all ombud schemes; to enhance consumer awareness of the ombud system in collaboration with stakeholders; and to exercise supervisory oversight over schemes through on-site inspections. Most of these targets were achieved, with the highlights being the publication of Ombud Council Rules for the FAIS Ombud (but with Rules for the Office of the Pension Funds Adjudicator (OPFA) deferred to 2025/26); finalising an aligned complaints reporting framework; developing a collaborative consumer education implementation model; and, conducting a wide range of consumer education and awareness activities in partnership with stakeholders.

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OMBUD COUNCIL ANNUAL REPORT 2024/25