Ombudsman procedures as a substitute for arbitration?

With the entry into force of the Financial Services Act (FIDLEG), clients of financial service providers were provided with a procedure before a specialised ombudsman’s office in addition to the traditional arbitration procedure. The advantages of the ombudsman procedure lie in the expertise of the ombudsman’s office as well as the efficiency and free-of-charge nature of the procedure. Furthermore, according to Art. 76 para. 2 FIDLEG, clients who have carried out an ombudsman procedure can waive the conduct of conciliation proceedings and go directly to the competent civil court. Whether the introduction of the ombuds procedure has actually created an equivalent alternative to a traditional arbitration procedure will be examined in more detail in this article.