Where to take a complaint about a broker

If a broker has delayed a withdrawal, closed your account or treated you unfairly, there is usually a set route to follow. Taking the steps in order matters, because independent bodies generally expect you to have given the firm a chance to put things right first.

Step 1: Complain to the firm, in writing

Ask the firm for its complaints procedure, then follow it. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority puts it simply: get in touch with the firm, tell them what happened and when, and ask them to put things right.1

Keep a record of everything: your account number, the dates and amounts involved, copies of emails and chat messages, and screenshots of your account. Note the date you complained, because time limits run from the firm’s response.

Step 2: Escalate to the body that covers the firm’s legal entity

Which body can help depends on the legal entity that holds your account and where it is authorised, not on the brand. Check your client agreement for its name and its complaints clause. Some examples:

• United Kingdom. The Financial Ombudsman Service is a free, independent service for settling disputes between financial firms and their customers.1 For most complaints, a business has up to eight weeks to consider your complaint first, and you need to go to the ombudsman within six months of the firm’s final response.2
• Australia. The Australian Financial Complaints Authority offers a free, fair and independent service for complaints about financial firms. It also advises raising the problem with the firm first.3
• Cyprus. The Office of the Financial Commissioner (Financial Ombudsman) handles complaints from consumers against financial companies, including investment companies. An application fee applies, so check the current amount on its website.4
• Across the European Economic Area. If you live in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway and your complaint is against a provider in another of those countries, the FIN-NET network may be able to help resolve it out of court. Most of its members help free of charge or at low cost, usually within 90 days.5

If the firm is not authorised

These routes generally depend on the firm being authorised. In the UK, for example, the FCA says that if you deal with a firm that is not authorised, or lacks permission for the activity, you will not have access to the Financial Ombudsman.6 Report the firm to the regulator in the country concerned, and consider reporting it to the police.

Be very wary of anyone who contacts you offering to recover your money. The FCA warns that fraudsters approach people who have lost money, offering to get it back for an upfront fee, and that the people behind the original scam may run the “recovery” service themselves.7

Step 3: Tell us, if you want to

You can also send us your complaint. It helps our research: patterns in what people tell us shape which firms we look at and what we check. Please understand what happens to it:

• It is confidential. We do not publish it, and we do not name you.
• It is a lead, not a finding. We only publish something about a firm once we have verified it independently.
• It is not a complaint to the firm or a regulator. We cannot resolve your dispute or recover money, and sending it to us does not stop any time limit running. Follow steps 1 and 2 as well.