Handling Complaints

• Rules Reference: DISP Chapter 1.3, General Regulation AMF Article 322-71-1, Article 19 – PRIIPs Regulation (EU) 1286/2014
  
  
• Rules Summary: Firms must have appropriate and effective internal complaint handling procedures for handling any expression of dissatisfaction, whether oral or written and whether justified or not, from or on behalf of an eligible complainant about the firm’s provision of, or failure to provide, a financial service.

Under DISP Chapter 1.1.3, any firm which conducts business with “eligible complainants” is required to have in place internal procedures for the proper handling of complaints. An eligible complainant is, broadly, someone who would fall within the definition of a Retail Client and with whom a regulated firm conducts business. Professional Clients and Eligible Counterparties (i.e. our Investor base) are expressly exempt from the definition of an eligible complainant. Also, Collective Investment Schemes are by definition Professional Clients.

Under Rule 1.1.3, a firm which does not conduct business with eligible complainants and has no likelihood of doing so is exempt from the FCA complaints handling requirements, but only provided it notifies the FCA in writing of this fact in accordance with DISP 1.1.12. An annual notification is not required as long as the firm remains exempt.

Notwithstanding the above, as a matter of good business practice and management, we will maintain general complaint handling procedures and all relevant employees must be aware of these procedures and act in accordance with them.

Similar to DISP, under Article 322-71-1 the AMF require firms to maintain operational, efficient and transparent procedures to ensure complaints are processed reasonably and rapidly. The AMF dictate that Polar must not charge complainants for this function and must ensure record keeping is robust. Under Article 19, PRIIPs Regulation (EU) 1286/2014, manufacturers of a packaged retail and insurance-based product, which includes EU-based UCITS funds, (‘PRIIPs’) are required to provide retail investors with an effective way of submitting complaints to the PRIIPs manufacturer and to respond to a retail investor who has made a compliant in a timely and proper manner. PRIIPs manufacturers must provide such redress procedures to retail investors on a cross border basis, regardless of whether they are based in another EU member state to the complainant or outside of the EU altogether.

Procedures

To enable fair, prompt and effective handling of complaints:

All oral or written expressions of dissatisfaction, no matter how trivial, about any person employed by the Company or any aspect of our activities must be reported to the Compliance Officer.

The Compliance Officer shall promptly determine the appropriate action, if any, for dealing with the complaint. In any event, all complaints, unless deemed trivial by the Compliance Officer, will nevertheless be logged on a Complaints Form (See Compliance Forms). Any relevant correspondence should be kept with the Complaints form on the Complaints File.

The Compliance Officer will decide whether a complaint is of such significance that it warrants immediate reporting to the Board. In any event, all logged complaints should be reported to the Board in writing at each Board meeting.

Notwithstanding the above, any complaint not resolved within 2 months from the date of receipt, must be reported to the Board. Annex A details group-wide complaints handling standards. 

MIFID II Requirement

MIFID II requires firms to have comprehensive product governance including an inception to closure product process that ensures that products achieve their objectives including investments, process and investors. This is set out within the new FCA Product Governance Sourcebook (PROD).

Under MiFID II complaints should be monitored on a rolling 12-month basis and classified according to the FCA definition. As part of Polar Capital’s Product Governance process, it has developed an Issues and Complaints Handling procedure whereby there is oversight and monitoring of its products complaints on an ongoing basis with a formal review of any trends within the quarterly product governance meetings.