The Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman has published its 2025 Annual Report and Financial Statements.
The report sets out the complaint trends, operational developments and emerging issues that shaped its work across Jersey and Guernsey during the year.
Fraud was a key theme in 2025, accounting for 15% of all cases resolved by the Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman (CIFO) during the year. CIFO refined its approach to different types of fraud complaints to support consistent decision-making and enabling legacy fraud cases to be resolved by year-end.
Positive trends were seen in the insurance sector, particularly in Guernsey, where cases fell by over 10%. This likely reflects clearer communication with customers, better explanations, and earlier resolution of issues by insurers and brokers.
The report also covers emerging issues, including rising Data Subject Access Requests (DSARs) and service complaints. It sets out a more transparent approach to case disclosures, designed to build greater trust and confidence in the Ombudsman service.
Douglas Melville (pictured), Principal Ombudsman and CEO, said: “2025 was an interesting year from several perspectives. Our case management work was heavily focused on complaints involving fraud and account blocks and closures, while complaint volumes involving insurance eased notably. On the operations side, complainant contacts with CIFO relating to service complaints and data subject access requests under data protection regulations consumed an increasing proportion of our staff capacity. Our stakeholder engagement activities reflected all of these issues as well as emerging areas such as the introduction of lending and credit regulation in Jersey and the emerging attention paid to motor finance complaints in the UK, and more recently in the Channel Islands.”
Picture Credit: Robbie Dark
