Is a FAIS Ombud determination binding on a broker?

Yes. A determination is binding and enforceable as if it were a judgment of a court. You may apply for leave to appeal within one month, with written reasons; if leave is refused you may apply to the Financial Services Tribunal for reconsideration.

What is the most the FAIS Ombud can award?

R3 500 000 per complaint under the 2024 Ombud Council Rules, up from R800 000 under the 2003 rules, plus costs and interest which form part of the determination. A larger claim can be heard if you agree in writing, or if the client abandons the excess.

How long does a client have to complain?

They must first give you six weeks to resolve it. The complaint must then reach the Ombud within six months of your final response (or of the six weeks expiring), and the Ombud may not investigate an act or omission the client knew of, or ought reasonably to have known of, more than three years before the complaint was received.

Do I have to respond to the Ombud?

You must acknowledge the client’s complaint in writing, tell them after six weeks that they may refer it, and disclose relevant information and documentation to the Ombud when asked. If you do not respond within a reasonable time the Ombud may decide the complaint on the information it has, which is the client’s version.

Does a signed Record of Advice protect me?

It is the document the Ombud reads first, and its absence is the commonest reason brokers lose. It protects you when it is dated before the transaction, records the products considered and the reasons, and sits with the needs analysis and the disclosures it summarises. A signature adds proof of receipt; the Code itself requires a written copy, not a signature.

Can the Ombud hear a complaint about a claim the insurer declined?

It hears complaints about the financial service you rendered — the advice, the disclosures, the follow-up — not the insurer’s claims decision as such. In all three determinations above the insurer’s decline was upheld and the broker was ordered to pay because the broker’s file could not show the client had been properly advised or informed.

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What the FAIS Ombud looks for in your advice file

The Ombud for Financial Services Providers decides complaints against brokers on the file, and since 1 July 2024 it can award up to R3 500 000 — more than four times the old R800 000 limit. Its determinations are binding and enforceable like a court judgment. A complaint reaches the Ombud only after the client has given you six weeks to resolve it, and the Ombud will not investigate an act or omission the client knew of, or ought to have known of, more than three years before the complaint arrived. From that point the questions are always the same: what did the client tell you, what did you analyse, what did you recommend and why, what did you disclose, and can you prove it. This page walks the rules, the process, and what three 2024–2025 determinations turned on.

Reviewed 7 September 2026 · Broker AI team

The 2024 rules in one place

The Ombud Council Rules for the Ombud for Financial Services Providers, 2024 replaced the 2003 rules on 1 July 2024. The numbers that matter to a broker:

R3.5m

Monetary jurisdiction

A complaint may not be a monetary claim of more than R3 500 000, unless you agree in writing to exceed it or the client abandons the excess (Rule 4(1)(e)). The previous limit, unchanged since 2003, was R800 000.

6 wks

Your window to resolve it

The Ombud must be satisfied the client tried to resolve the complaint with you and that you failed to address it satisfactorily within six weeks of receipt (Rule 4(1)(c)). You must acknowledge the complaint in writing as soon as reasonably possible (Rule 6(1)).

6 mths

The client’s window to escalate

The complaint must reach the Ombud within six months of your final response, or within six months of the six-week period expiring (Rule 4(1)(d)). If you cannot resolve it in six weeks you must tell the client, in writing, that they may refer it to the Ombud and should do so within six months (Rule 6(2)).

3 yrs

The time bar

The Ombud may not investigate where the client became aware, or ought reasonably to have become aware, of the act or omission more than three years before the Office received the complaint (FAIS Act section 27(3)(a)). The three years run from awareness of your act or omission, not from the loss.

How a complaint runs

Every step is set by the Rules, and two of them are where brokers lose cases before the merits are reached:

01The Ombud tells you the substance of the complaint and invites your response; you are entitled to submit any fact, information or documentation, and you must disclose relevant information or documentation to the Ombud (Rule 6(3)).
02The Ombud may dismiss a complaint summarily — no reasonable prospect of success, a fair offer still open, the matter already decided in court, a frivolous or vexatious complaint (Rule 7) — and must give reasons.
03If a party does not respond within a reasonable time or otherwise fails to comply with the Rules, the Ombud may dispose of the complaint on the facts and information available (Rule 8(3)). Silence is decided against you on the client’s version.
04An adjudicator usually issues a recommendation first; a party rejecting it must give written reasons within the time set. Only if the matter remains unresolved does the Ombud determine it.
05A determination is binding and enforceable as if it were a judgment of a court. The Ombud may award costs against the respondent and interest, both forming part of the determination (Rule 9); recent determinations have carried interest at 11.25% a year from the date of the determination.
06You may apply for leave to appeal within one month of the determination, with written reasons; if leave is refused, you may ask the Financial Services Tribunal to reconsider the decision.

The file the Ombud asks for

The Ombud adjudicates on documents. The complaint form asks the client to attach every policy document, application form and piece of correspondence they hold; the Rules then oblige you to disclose yours. What the adjudicator reads them for maps directly onto the General Code of Conduct:

Was the advice appropriate?

The information you obtained about the client’s needs and objectives, financial situation, risk profile and product knowledge, and the analysis you did on it (section 8(1)(a)–(b)); whether the product identified fitted (section 8(1)(c)); whether the client understood (section 8(2)); and, for a replacement, the section 8(1)(d) disclosures.

Is there a Record of Advice?

The section 9(1) record — the summary of what the advice was based on, the products considered, the recommendation and why — and the section 9(2) copy to the client. Determinations that go against brokers overwhelmingly turn on this document being absent, blank, or written after the fact.

Was everything disclosed?

Section 7(1)(a): a reasonable and appropriate general explanation of the nature and material terms of the contract, and full and frank disclosure of anything the client needed to make an informed decision — exclusions, excesses, waiting periods, special conditions (section 7(1)(c)(vii)).

s3(2)

Can you prove you sent it?

Section 3(2) requires records of the advice, and of communications with the client, to be kept for five years. A bulk email you cannot show was delivered or read is, to the Ombud, an email that was not sent (see Ralph, below).

Three recent determinations, and what each turned on

All three are short-term insurance, and all three were lost on the file rather than on the law:

2025

Ralph v Efficient Insure Advisory Services (May 2025, as summarised by Moonstone)

A Land Cruiser Prado added to the policy in 2021; in April 2023 the insurer made a tracking device a condition for high-risk vehicles; the vehicle was stolen in an armed robbery in November 2023 and the claim declined for the missing tracker. The brokerage produced two bulk emails and a renewal notice but could not show the emails were delivered or read, and did not produce the audit trail its own systems generated. The Ombud found a failure of due skill, care and diligence and of the section 7(1)(a) and 7(1)(c)(vii) disclosure duties, and ordered payment of the vehicle’s R786 300 retail value plus interest at 11.25%.

2025

Nel v Barton Insurance Brokers (February 2025, as summarised by Moonstone)

A client who became sole policyholder on marriage dealt with the brokerage from his own email address for some 21 policy changes over three years, while his wife’s address stayed on the system. The notice of a new secondary-tracker condition went to her address; the vehicle was stolen; the claim was declined. The Ombud held the broker negligent for never updating or confirming the contact details and never following up — section 2 (honestly, fairly, with due skill, care and diligence) and section 6(a) — and awarded R681 250 plus interest. The Financial Services Tribunal had sent the matter back to the Ombud in November 2024.

24/25

FAIS-85770-24/25 — all-risks cover on two agricultural drones

A farmer asked for comprehensive cover with no excess on two drones; one hit a power line in flight and the R244 700 claim was declined under a flight exclusion. The broker argued an administrative-only role and pointed to the schedule, which stated the exclusion twice. The Ombud held that adding the drones was a new product carrying the section 7(1)(a) and section 8 duties, found the exclusion had not been explained, but weighed the client’s failure to read the schedule and settled the matter at 50%: R122 350.

The file that wins

Read the three cases together and the file the Ombud is looking for is not long. It is complete, dated, and provable:

01A needs analysis that shows what the client asked for and what you established — sums insured and how they were reached, the risks you were asked to cover and any you were asked not to (with the section 8(4)(b) alert recorded).
02A Record of Advice dated on or before the transaction, with the products considered and the reasons, and evidence the client received a copy (section 9(2)).
03The disclosures, in words the client could understand: excesses, exclusions, waiting periods, warranties, and the new conditions an insurer introduces mid-term — with proof of delivery, not just proof of sending.
04Contact details confirmed at every material change (a new policyholder, a new vehicle, a new address) and a follow-up when a condition changes the cover. Automated mailers alone did not satisfy the Ombud in either 2025 case.
05The five-year record: the file, the correspondence, and the audit trail your systems already produce. If the system can prove it, produce it.

The file that loses

The recurring shapes in determinations against brokers:

01No Record of Advice, or one that cannot be dated before the transaction.
02“The client was sent the schedule.” The Ombud reads section 7(1)(a) as a duty to explain, not to post; the drones case was lost on exactly that, with the exclusion printed twice.
03“We emailed everyone.” Without delivery evidence the Ombud treats the notice as not given; with the wrong address on file it treats the broker as negligent.
04Not responding, or responding late. Rule 8(3) lets the Ombud decide on the client’s version alone.
05Arguing the role was administrative. Adding a product to an existing policy is advice, with section 8 attached.

Build the file before you need it

Broker AI drafts the Record of Advice, the needs analysis and the policy comparison from the documents you upload, dated and filed with the schedule — so the file the Ombud asks for exists on the day the advice was given, not the day the complaint arrives.

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Frequently asked questions

Is a FAIS Ombud determination binding on a broker?: Yes. A determination is binding and enforceable as if it were a judgment of a court. You may apply for leave to appeal within one month, with written reasons; if leave is refused you may apply to the Financial Services Tribunal for reconsideration.
What is the most the FAIS Ombud can award?: R3 500 000 per complaint under the 2024 Ombud Council Rules, up from R800 000 under the 2003 rules, plus costs and interest which form part of the determination. A larger claim can be heard if you agree in writing, or if the client abandons the excess.
How long does a client have to complain?: They must first give you six weeks to resolve it. The complaint must then reach the Ombud within six months of your final response (or of the six weeks expiring), and the Ombud may not investigate an act or omission the client knew of, or ought reasonably to have known of, more than three years before the complaint was received.
Do I have to respond to the Ombud?: You must acknowledge the client’s complaint in writing, tell them after six weeks that they may refer it, and disclose relevant information and documentation to the Ombud when asked. If you do not respond within a reasonable time the Ombud may decide the complaint on the information it has, which is the client’s version.
Does a signed Record of Advice protect me?: It is the document the Ombud reads first, and its absence is the commonest reason brokers lose. It protects you when it is dated before the transaction, records the products considered and the reasons, and sits with the needs analysis and the disclosures it summarises. A signature adds proof of receipt; the Code itself requires a written copy, not a signature.
Can the Ombud hear a complaint about a claim the insurer declined?: It hears complaints about the financial service you rendered — the advice, the disclosures, the follow-up — not the insurer’s claims decision as such. In all three determinations above the insurer’s decline was upheld and the broker was ordered to pay because the broker’s file could not show the client had been properly advised or informed.

This page is general information about the FAIS Ombud’s rules and published determinations, not legal advice. Two of the three determinations are described from published summaries rather than the determination text, as marked in the sources; amounts and rule references were checked against the 2024 Rules and the Ombud’s own pages on 7 September 2026.