Obsi Reviews 

They are absolutely aligned with Canadian banks to assuage consumer complaints about
banking issues. There should be a Parliamentary inquiry into their lack of effectiveness resulting in the Federal Government taking over the unbiased Ombudsman role to protect customers of banks.
I prepared a detailed report on my massive romance scam which happened in 2023.

I spent 2.5 hours on the phone with Vida Cave
a former bank employee and my claim was rejected offhand. I tried to get my case reconsidered by Jeff Scanlon and was advised my case would not be reopened as I missed the 30 day deadline by 7 days.
I have now provided my case details to my
MP David McKenzie and he thinks there should be a Parliamentary enquiry into their behaviour
and lack of concern for my case.
I am age 75 and will have to go back to work soon as I’m running out of money.

Shambles of an Ombudsman. They will always side with big banks over individual consumers. If you check your assigned investigators LinkedIn, don't be surprised when you see they used to work for these companies.
In my case they colluded with a bank to fake correspondence and justify a total lack of communication and transparency. And I wasnt asking for compensation, just a simple acknowledgement and explanation.
Complaining to these guys is a complete waste of time. If you really get screwed, you're better off taking it to court.

In my opinion & perosnal experience, contacting Ombudsman For Banking Services & Investments is a TOTAL WASTE OF TIME & MUCH AN INTIMIDATING & INSULTING EXPERIENCE. Reality is that NOTHING FREE SEEMS WORKING PROPERLY & DILIGENTLY NOWADAYS BUT SIMPLY MORE BUREAUCRACY & MORE RED TAPES & RUBBISH!!!

The so-called ''impartial'' banking ombudsman from the very begining demands that we spend lots of time, provideing lots of detailed personal & complaint & other infomation, this & that on their 15-20 or so long pages online complaint form. I see this as nothing more than a planned/intended deterrent for most of us to just give up our unresolved issues with banks

For those of us who are so frustrated & determined to go ahead & spend perhaps hours completing this inital precedure, more BUREAUCRATC nightmares follow from contacting OBSI.

The following is my recent personal communication experience with OBSI RE RBC DIRECT INVESTING (see my TrustPilot post dated May 30/25 for details)

''Dear (private): June 3, 2025 11:10

Thank you for contacting the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) and giving us the opportunity to review your complaint against RBC. To begin our review of your complaint, we require copies of:

1. The complaint letter you sent to RBC, or the date on which you called RBC to make your complaint

2. The final decision letter from RBC’s complaint-handling office, if you received one

Please send this information, along with any other supporting documents, within the next 14 days to: 20 Queen Street West, Suite 2400, P.O. Box 8, Toronto ON M5H 3R3, or by email to (private)

We will contact you once we have reviewed these documents to let you know what will happen next.

Sincerely,

Justin P

Case Assessment Officer II''

I sent my reply prompy as: June 3, 2025 1:42PM

''Hi Justine

I did ask Pat Feng, RBC Direct Investing Customer Care Officer on May 26 for a written record of my complaint & our tel communications dated May 20, 22 ,23 & 26 2025 & she told me there was no written records whatsoever as all communications were conducted over the phone

She gave me a case # as CC-01xxxx (private) on May 26 as per my request

Please let me know if further information. Thank you''

June 10, 2025 15:06 I received the following:

Dear (private):

To open our file, we require either a written response from RBC’s Client Complaints Appeal Office or written confirmation that your complaint has been outstanding for more than 90 days.

If you do not have any written correspondence, please contact RBC at 1-800 xxx-xxxx to inform them that you’ve contacted our office and request a written response for the purpose of our investigation.

Sincerely,

Justin P

Case Assessment Officer II''

I responded ''SEEMS TO ME THAT YOU ARE SIMPLY ANOTHER RIGID, NO GOOD BUREAUCRAT THAT WASTED LOTS OF MY VALUABLE TIME FOR NOTHING''

I have had 2 case files with the OBSI Royal Bank of Canada and Scotiabank. They are the worst. They will wait months to even look at your claim. I swear they put it on the desk and forget about it. The first investigator dealing with RBC actually asked me to tell her about my claim. She did not know anything about it. She gave the Bank credit, It was not in my favor. I actually had a 4runner that the bank never called to sign the contract they just started to take money out of my acct. Life got in the way a few years later, Divorce. The bank Seized it without a Writ or Warrant then sold it to pay off the loan and the bank won.!!!

The second investigator kept me on the phone and played psychologist saying what if....the account manager was wrong to tell you "your husband has every right to close a sole acct. He is your husband." She kept me on the phone for 1 hr and 20 min playing merry go round with illegal activity trying to find loopholes. I closed the conversation and said there will be a court date. I was told the OBSI cannot do any legal action. They just recommend a solution. I had the complaint in From Jan 24, 2025 and it is just now being investigated. A WAIST OF TIME!!!

OBSI for banking complaint handling process is more documentary but in reality is waste of tine for consumers facing issues with Bank services. Their investigators are not qualified to do competent investigation. They should have professional background and qualifications to do the job. They are simply office staff who just make decisions based on phone conversations with consumers. They are very much hesitant to question Bank authorities. Nothing will change by this review. Please don’t waste your time and efforts by contacting them. I regret myself. Thanks

OBSI is a corrupt and useless organisation that exists only to protect banks, not customers. Their entire process is a facade of fairness, deliberately designed to turn in favour of financial institutions, no matter how strong your case is. It’s nothing but an ineffective, bureaucratic shield that allows banks to get away with mistreatment and abuse.

They offer false hope, drag cases out with delays and meaningless correspondence, and end up delivering generic, one-sided outcomes that show no real investigation took place. OBSI is a disgraceful excuse for oversight a toothless, biased, and frustrating body that only adds more pain and wasted time to customers already seeking justice. Avoid this scam of a service.

OBSI Canada unfortunately dishonest and pathetic in thier investigation. They took 2 months of investigation to find TD bank done nothing wrong in carrying a wire transfer for the sum of $326000 that got lost for over a month.

I have for sure lost faith in the OBSI Canada and have lost any sort of justice in the Canadian system.

Canada used to be a country that I was proud to visit and spend time in it. But unfortunately Canada now is a broken country.

Ps Canada should consider trump offer

I wish I can give 0 star.

I used to believe ombuds were honest and just.

But when I saw ombuds were so smart to judge a RDSP withdrawal from BMO in July 2024 by means of Additional Rules of November 2024, I was deeply shocked!!!!!!

They are either morons or evils.

Their so-called unbiasing is just a joke!

Do not waste your time complaining to these lazy know good people that works for obsi, they getting paid for doing nothing, they are as worst as the banking institution you complaining about, These people are one sided lazy, incompetent people.I pray and Hope soon the government put this business out compliance because it has know use,these bias,lazy and useless worker working for obsi .

OBSI=ZERO rating! They are FAKE LAZY INCOMPETENT USELESS BAD People who do not care at all and they Don’t know anything about the case!! One sided BIASED!I don’t even know why they exist THEY SHOULD NOT GET PAID AT ALL!! They don’t do any of their job! What is “case is closed”!? while their answers are way out of the issues!Can’t even say or explain anything related to the case!!They will change the topic which you are complaining about and it’s so obvious that they don’t know what to say or trying to cover up for the bank or divert the issues!We are not dumb to notice the stup*dity!!Should be ABOLISHED!!NO USE at all!

Waste of time and resources. They don't even make investigations and side with the financial institution regardless of evidence. The people who work there are lazy and incompetent.

Don't waste your time, go directly to small court. They exist to protect banks.

Opened a case with OBSI and they didn't so much as pick up a phone to call the complainants to get more details and discuss the case. Their conclusion did not even address the initial complaint and signed with the bank.

Complete waste of time. Do not bother.

just a billshit get out for banks , who subsidies them anyway , dont wast your time, this is a phony set up, Trudeau needs to sort out this scam ,but obviously will not, like any other beau acratic government crap agency, dont waste your time, go to small claims court, banks dont like this and will be a better outcome for you

It is clearly an organization that exists to pretend that there is justice and due process and to 'check a box off'. I would only go through them if you want to annoy people but not because you actually want anything useful to come from the experience. The clerk I dealt with had no knowledge on the topic and just closed the case without actually looking into anything, maybe coming to a mutual agreement. Instead just sent me an email stating I think the bank is fair so I am closing the case. That took 7 months. That 7 months is after over a year of annoying nonsense with the bank so there are 2 parties..only 1 is in agreement..how is this an Ombudsman again?

Take months to assign your matter to an investigator. Then investigation is wrapped up within 2 weeks - even though the offending company took days just ignoring a request for info. Despite the brokerage having no file to back claims; firm admitted to lying - still ruling goes against individual. Its time for Canada to get a regulator with some real authority. My advice - anyone who has been wronged by a bank, or brokerage company shouldn't waste his time with the OBSI - seek another avenue of recourse; one that actually has some authority and isn't simply funded by the companies they are tasked to investigate! The real joke - OBSI's slogan - "Make a complaint today & receive a fair, free & independent resolution" - should really be, "Make a complaint then wait months, then expect a rapid finding (despite any evidence or lack of evidence) in favour of the companies that pay OBSI salaries. Hey - PM Trudeau, time to disband this group, imo.

They claim they want to protect the consumers but they never request any documentary evidence from the financial institution's to verify the claim made by victims. If financial institutions provide any evidence against the victims, this organization does not question it as if the financial institutions are infallible. What this organization does is very appalling and is really an injustice for the victims. it says" Our service is free to consumers because it is funded by industry," it is funded by Banks. It speaks volume about what this organization does and their " senior investigators" do. They call themselves " investigators" I don't know what investigations they do? Canada needs independent investigators to go over the cases handled by this organization and that way they will know that there is a serious need to protect the consumers. Just don't waste your precious time. At times I wondered if they went through the victims cases and read their case papers because they came up with bizarre decisions.

They take all your paperwork don't ask any further questions or inform you how they investigated the issue. Then they finish by saying they can't do anything and you're still stuck with the same problem you started with 3 months ago.

Funded by the industry
In any country such organisation is funded by government/tax payers money
Representative has no empathy.

The Ombudsman for Banking and Investments (OBSI) is certainly not impartial and just want to get rid of you. Should be disbanded and a proper ombudsman with teeth installed.

Last year a fraudulent Etransfer was done on my account at Koho bank/People’s Trust.

When I contacted them they told me the transfer was done and they have absolutely no idea which bank the money was transferred to or where the money was deposited. It seems that people working there are involved with the fraudsters.

Money is disappearing from this bank and they claim they have no idea where the money is going.

After I insisted that they tell me where my money went they revealed that the money was deposited to an account at the CIBC but they were not going to do anything about it.

I then contacted CTVnews and they said they were going to broadcast the story on TV, at that point the bank buckled and decided to refund me my hard-earned money.

I then called the CIBC to let them know the fraudsters were stealing money from Koho Bank and transferring the money to the CIBC. The CIBC informed me that they will only take action if they receive a complaint from Koho Bank because it has to be handled bank to bank.

Koho bank has refused to stop the fraudulent transfers because it’s obvious that the fraudsters there are benefiting from the fraudulent transfers.

I also filed a complaint with the OBSI pointing out that by refusing to do anything to stop the fraudulent transfers Koho bank is in breach of their responsibility and obligation to try to prevent fraud from impacting their customers but the OBSI has refused to do anything about it.

The OBSI rarely sides with consumers because of the way it is funded, they usually side with the banks.