Complaints & Dispute Resolution Policy
Effective Date: 30th of November 2023
Introduction
We recognise that, as in all organisations, from time-to-time things can go wrong and we may not provide the standard of service that we have set ourselves. We are especially keen to hear about such instances since they provide us with an opportunity to put things right and to learn.
SYR Group OTC (Pty) Ltd is a company registered and incorporated in South Africa. 2 Hertzog Blvd, Foreshore, Cape Town 8001. SYR Group OTC (Pty) Ltd holds a Financial Services Provider (FSP) Licence which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority of South Africa (‘FSCA’) under licence number FSP53352.
The Company acting in its capacity as a Financial Service Provider and in accordance with the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002 (Act No. 37 of 2002) (the “Law”) is required to have in place and disclose to its Clients the Complaints Resolution Process (herein the “Process”), which is described in this document.
Scope of the Complaints Resolution Process
The purpose of the Process is to set out the complaint’s resolution processes and procedures which the Company has established, maintains, and follows for the resolution of complaints.This Process applies to any of the Company’s Clients who have reasons to believe that the Company has treated them in any way unfairly and/or has failed to comply with any of the provisions of the Law. Clients should follow the procedure outlined herein to make a formal complaint to the Company.
Definition of a Complaint
The term “complaint” as defined by Law means a specific complaint relating to a financial service rendered by a Financial Services Provider (the “Provider”) and/or his representative to the complainant and in which complaint it is alleged that the Provider and/or his representative:
(a) Has contravened or failed to comply with a provision of the Law and that as a result thereof the complainant has suffered or is likely to suffer financial prejudice or damage;
(b) Has willfully or negligently rendered a financial service to the complainant which has caused prejudice or damage to the complainant or which is likely to result in prejudice of damage; or
(c) Has treated the complainant unfairly.
The term “complainant” is used to describe a natural or legal person who has established a business relationship with the Company, as per the terms and conditions set and/or any other legal documentation of the Company and to whom the Company offers financial services and is eligible for lodging and/or who has already lodged a complaint a complaint against the Company.
When making a complaint against the Company the Client shall include the following:
(a) the Client’s name and surname;
(b) the Client’s trading account number;
(c) the affected transaction numbers, if applicable;
(d) the date that the issue arose and a description of the issue;
(e) copies of all relevant documentation must be attached thereto.
A complaint must not include offensive language directed either towards the Company or a Company’s employee(s).
Complaints Process:
Queries or disputes can be received via phone, letter, email or by any other form of communication. You must tell us as soon as possible about any dispute – the sooner you inform us, the easier it will be to resolve the matter.
In the first instance, you should try to resolve your dispute through the usual customer service channels, as they are able to resolve the vast majority of disputes and very often issues arise as a result of misunderstandings and can be easily resolved.
You will be asked to provide full details of your issue (for example the date and time of the disputed trade). The more information you can provide, the easier it will be to resolve the matter.
Complaints Prioritisation:
All Complaints will be prioritised as follows:
1) Risk 1- Routine complaints, potential low business impact. Under this categorisation the following forms of complaints can be found:
Routine complaints which may have the potential of becoming serious. We shall make every effort to investigate a client complaint and provide the client with the outcome of our investigation within fifteen working days (15). One of our staff members in coordination with his/her Manager will closely monitor and investigate client complaints and respond back to the client within the proper dateline of the fifteen working days (15).
2) Risk 2- Urgent, serious, business impact. Under this categorisation the following forms of complaints can be found:
Serious complaints which are logged on media platforms, received from legal advisors or immediately evidence contravention of legislative requirements such as failure to conduct a proper need analysis. Once the Company acknowledges receipt of a client complaint, the complaint will be reviewed in a careful and proper manner. Under this category of complaint, the relevant Manager/Personnel of the company will need to be informed and start the investigation in cooperation with the relevant Officer of the company and examine the circumstances surrounding the client complaint and will try to resolve it without undue delay. The Company shall make every effort to investigate a client complaint and provide an outcome of the investigation within five to ten working days (5-10). Complaints from third parties and/or legal advisors will be responded to win 24 hours, acknowledging receipt of the complaint and further requesting authority to act on the behalf of complainants (client) , such as a power of attorney or consent by the complainant to deal with the complaint on the complainant’s( client) behalf.
3) Risk 3- Urgent official complaints received from regulators e.g FAIS Ombud. The regulator usually stipulates a response time of thirty working days (30) from receipt of the complaint.
Under this category of complaint, the investigation of the complaint may be delegated to a suitable Senior person and the required draft response and attachments may be collected by such senior person and will be ultimately responsible for compiling the response to the regulator. When the Company reaches an outcome, the relevant Officer will inform the client accordingly together with an explanation of the Company’s position and any remedy measures the Company intends to take (if applicable).
Complaints Categorisation:
Complaints will be categorised according to their nature, e.g.service, product related, features, performance, advice given, etc. These categories are then narrowed down to the impact on customers. The impact of the complaint is measured by further categorising it according to the following Treat Clients Fairly Outcomes (TCF):
TCF Outcome 2 – These are complaints relating to the design of a product or service.
TCF Outcome 3 – These complaints relate to unsuitable, or inaccurate, misleading, confusing or unclear information provided to a customer throughout the life cycle of a product.
TCF Outcome 4 – These are complaints which relate to the advice given to a customer by an advisor which was misleading, inappropriate and/or tainted with conflicts of interest which were not disclosed. Inappropriate advice given because of lack of knowledge, skill or experience on the part of the advisor of the product or service being rendered, would also be included here.
TCF Outcome 5 – Complaints in this category pertain to product performance and service-related issues.
TCF Outcome 6 – These complaints relate to product accessibility, changes or switches, complaints relating to complaints handling and complaints relating to claims would be categorised here.
Submitting a Complaint:
You may submit your complaint in writing and address it to the following email address: support@syrgroup.io
In the unlikely event where a complaint cannot be addressed within the three (3) weeks period by the Company, a written acknowledgment of the complaint, with the contact details of the FAIS Ombud, will be sent to the complainant (client).
If the Company was unable to resolve the complaint within the time period of six (6) weeks the complainant may contact the FAIS Ombud within six (6) months of receiving a final response from the Company otherwise the FAIS Ombud may not be able to deal with the client’s complaint. Please see below the relevant contact details:
Ombud for Financial Services Providers Contact Details
Physical address: Sussex Office Park, Ground Floor, Block B, 473 Lynnwood Road & Sussex Ave. Lynnwood, 0081, South Africa
Toll Free No: 0860324766
Telephone: +27 1 470 9080
Facsimile: + 27 12 348 3447
E-mail address: info@faisombud.co.za
Website: http://www.faisombud.co.za/
Acknowledging your Complaint:
We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within twenty-four hours (24) from the receipt of your complaint and provide you with the unique reference number of your complaint. The unique reference number should be used in all your future contact with the Company. The details of the person allocated to the complaint will be dispatched to the complainant (client) within 48 hours from receipt.
Record Keeping
The Company shall establish, maintain and/or update the Complaints Register with details of all the complaints received per month; date of the complaint, identification of the complainant, complaint cause, the financial instrument, the disputed amount, and settlement date if applicable and any comments thereof for a period of five (5) years.