The Financial Commission, a leading independent, non-governmental self-regulatory organization and external dispute resolution (EDR) forum announces its latest operational metrics for the first quarter of 2025. The organization experienced a drop in many key metrics attributed to the winter seasonal slowdown, including a decrease in amounts sought, awarded, average complaint values, and others. The forum continues to provide a quick and efficient service, with complaints being resolved on average in just 6.8 days as part of its quarterly Complaints Digest.
As part of its founding core principles to protect traders from possible scams, Ponzi schemes, and fraudulent activities online, The Financial Commission placed over 12 new websites on its Warning List.
Furthermore, the forum added 5 new broker members during the quarter to bolster its membership ranks.
Key highlights for 1Q 2025 vs. 4Q 2024:
- New filed complaints slowed by 5%
- Total resolved complaints decreased 2%
- Non-member complaints remained unchanged
- Average complaint values down 45% to $7,493
- Compensation sought from all brokers fell 48% to $2.120M
- Compensation sought from members down 24% to $1.789M
- Average resolution times slowed by 22% to 6.8 days
Quarterly Comparison
Key Takeaways
- Lower inbound complaints and other metrics due to the winter holidays
- Proportionate decrease in amounts sought from member firms
- Growth in low and mid-value complaints: 21% and 14% respectively
- Complaints resolution times slowed, yet continued to be quick
Conclusions
While the Financial Commission witnessed a slowdown in new complaints from traders amid the winter holiday break, demand for external dispute resolution (EDR) remains steady, while continued efforts to improve customer satisfaction at member firms attributed to the decrease in traders requiring EDR services. Specifically, the organization experienced a 5% drop in new complaints filed, while the total number of complaints resolved in the quarter fell slightly by 2%. At the same time, total complaints amounts sought and awarded and average complaint values all decreased by 48%, 82%, and 44% respectively. In complaint categories, financial-related complaints continued to dominate for 1Q 2025, while non-trading complaints fell by 26%. Complaints valued up to $100 jumped 22% during this period, while higher-value complaints in the $500-999 category grew by 14%.
During the period, the Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) resolved complaints slower than in the previous quarter, with 6.8 days in average dispute resolution time.
About Financial Commission
The Financial Commission is an independent external dispute resolution (EDR) organization for consumers/traders who are unable to resolve disputes directly with their financial services providers who are members of the Financial Commission. The Financial Commission initially set out to provide a new approach for traders and brokers alike to resolve any issues that arise in the course of trading electronic markets such as Foreign Exchange, and then expanded into CFDs and related derivatives, in addition to certifying technology platforms used for trading.
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