Stakeholders, including some trade associations, said publication might cause individual businesses reputational damage and lead to them being targeted by claims management companies.
However, the FOS said hiding the identity of specific businesses “may serve the interests of the business concerned, but may harm the interests of other similar businesses who have not acted in the same way”.
It said the fact that a decision may disclose embarrassing or inconvenient information about a financial business “is not, of itself, a reason to keep the issue confidential”.
The government, via the Financial Services Bill, has indicated it wants the FOS to publish the decisions of its ombudsmen.
Currently, it does not make any of its decisions public, although it does publish anonymous case reviews to illustrate how it reaches decisions.
The FOS operates a three-stage complaints procedure. Only the final stage – a decision by an ombudsman, which is legally binding on a business if accepted by the complainant – will be published.
It is a three month consultation. Read more here.
