Not upheld: Service failures generally complaint against Wealthify Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Miss W complained that Wealthify Limited failed to provide timely quarterly account statements showing the market value of her investments, causing her undue stress and preventing her from meeting benefits office statutory information requirements. As a vulnerable customer, she requested statements be issued within ten business days of each statement period end and sent to her representative. Wealthify argued they complied with regulatory obligations to issue statements every three months. The ombudsman found Wealthify met regulatory requirements, provided online access to statements, and made reasonable adjustments for her vulnerability. The complaint was not upheld as no regulatory requirement mandates the ten-day timeframe Miss W requested, and the ombudsman's role is not to require wholesale operational changes where regulatory compliance is already met.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that Wealthify complied with regulatory obligations to issue quarterly statements at least every three months, even though statements were issued some time after the end of the relevant quarter. While Miss W requested statements within ten business days of the statement period end, no regulatory requirement mandates this timeframe. The ombudsman noted that Miss W did not specify precisely what information format was required for benefits office compliance or why online access would be insufficient. Wealthify had made reasonable adjustments by recording vulnerability markers, offering ad hoc valuations at no cost, and providing online access to all statements. The ombudsman's role is not to require wholesale operational changes where regulatory compliance is already met, but to determine if the firm treated the customer fairly in the particular circumstances.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website