The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has published a public consultation paper with proposals on the setup of a Financial Industry Disputes Resolution Centre (FIDReC).

The Centre will provide consumers with an independent and affordable avenue for resolving retail disputes with financial institutions in the banking, insurance and capital markets sectors.

The proposals were made by an Integration Steering Committee formed by the MAS to facilitate the set up of a one-stop dispute resolution scheme¹.

The Committee includes representatives from the banking, insurance and capital markets sectors as well as individuals with no financial sector affiliation to provide an independent consumer perspective.

The Committee is chaired by Mr Goh Joon Seng, former Supreme Court judge and Chairman of IDRO and CMU. A list of committee members is at Annex 1.

The consultation covers FIDReC's governance structure, membership, terms of reference and funding arrangements.

The deadline for submission of feedback is 26 November 2004.

FIDReC is expected to be incorporated and operational by the first half of 2005. Once operational, CMU and IDRO will be dissolved and all existing cases transferred to FIDReC.

¹ There are currently dispute resolution mechanisms for the banking and insurance sectors, namely the Consumer Mediation Unit (CMU) and Insurance Disputes Resolution Organisation (IDRO) respectively but there is no formal mechanism for the capital markets sector. This gap will be addressed by the creation of FIDReC

Annex 1.....

Source: Monetary Authority of Singapore Press Release 28 Oct 2004