Liam Coleman (pictured) has been confirmed as permanent chair of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), taking up a three-year term on October 10 as new complaint dismissal rules take effect and a registration stage pilot begins, changes to how complaints about insurers and brokers are screened.
Coleman has served as interim chair for the past year. He was appointed to the interim role in October 2025 after an initial recruitment campaign proved unsuccessful, and succeeded Baroness Zahida Manzoor, who stepped down in August 2025 after two terms. The FCA board made the permanent appointment with Treasury approval.
He has more than 30 years of financial services experience. He was chief executive of the Co-operative Bank, deputy group treasurer and group head of capital management at Royal Bank of Scotland and group director of treasury at Nationwide Building Society. He has also held roles at the FCA, where he sat on the board before joining the FOS, and at an NHS foundation trust. He is group chair of London & Quadrant Housing Trust.
Ashley Alder, chair of the FCA, said Coleman’s experience across financial services, regulation and public service organisations “will be invaluable as we work together to support a redress system that is fair, predictable and effective for consumers and firms.”
The changes follow the FOS policy statement published in August after the joint FCA and FOS consultation CP26/9, which ran from March to May 2026. Formal changes to the dismissal framework took effect on October 1. They add or restore grounds for dismissing complaints, including where a matter has already been reviewed under regulatory standards or a consumer redress scheme. The FOS also removed the word “material” before financial loss in one dismissal ground, so a complaint can be dismissed where the complainant has not suffered financial loss, material distress or material inconvenience. The dismissal changes apply to current and future complaints, while the amended fair and reasonable test applies to new cases.
A registration stage that adds work earlier in the process is being piloted, starting with fraud and scams casework this month. Formal registration rules are deferred until the FOS consults on case fees, and not before April 2027 at the earliest. The Financial Services and Markets Bill, still progressing through Parliament, also contains changes to the redress system and the FOS. The reforms follow the government’s 2025 plans to overhaul the ombudsman, and Coleman’s permanent appointment gives the board continuity while they bed in.
The FOS received 53,600 complaints between April and June 2026, 600 more than the previous quarter. Car and motorcycle insurance complaints rose to 4,100 from 4,000 in January to March, with consumers citing claim values, policy cancellations and claim delays. Travel insurance complaints rose 30% year on year to 1,300.
The service handles insurance among most financial services, and since April 2019 its remit has covered complaints from larger small and medium-sized businesses as well as consumers. The FCA and FOS said they are working with the government to deliver a redress system that is consistent, predictable and fair for firms and consumers.
