Preparing for the challenges of 2009 is something that has greatly exercised the TIO team over the Christmas period. Trying to anticipate the implications of the economic downturn for our members and consumers is a critical element of our planning for the year ahead.

As one of our strategic goals is to remain relevant for our stakeholders, to do this we need to understand the many pressures that consumers and members will experience as they deal with the consequences of the significantly altered economic environment. This will include appreciating how this alters their behaviour and expectations.

In this edition of TIO Talks we have canvassed some issues we think will be a priority for consumers, and provided a sense of how we plan to address these. We have also indicated how we intend to assist our members respond to the types of complaints that we think are likely to arise.

Overall, we expect that this year will be extremely challenging. As always, our aim is to ensure we provide the best complaint handling service we can – reaching out to all our stakeholders, and fostering an environment in which we help members and consumers resolve complaints with an agility, impartiality and ingenuity for which we are determined to become renowned. The essence of the alternative dispute resolution approach we practise is to assist the disputing parties reach a fair and reasonable resolution. In many cases, this means both parties coming some way to accommodate the perspective, needs and views of the other.

This year, I believe that a willingness to be flexible and fair and to participate in the process in good faith will be key to achieving workable outcomes at a time when many systems, processes and people are under significant stress.
In particular, this is likely to involve us working even more closely with our members regarding their approach to credit management, as well as their customer service and complaint-handling procedures across the board.

Deirdre O’Donnell
Ombudsman