Complaints

Complaints about your investment with Soteria are taken seriously and can be made to any Soteria representative which will trigger our complaints process below. If you are still not happy with any problem you have, you can refer your complaint to:

Write to: Soteria NZ, The Advisory Group Ltd, Level 9, 55 Shortland Street, Auckland 1010, New Zealand

Email: legalcompliance@soteria.xyz

Any complaint which reaches this level will receive the personal attention of a senior member of the Soteria team. If after raising the matter with Soteria, you are still not satisfied, you can contact the Financial Services Complaints Tribunal (FSCL) at:

Write to: Financial Services Complaints Limited PO Box 5967, Lambton Quay Wellington 6145

Visit: 4th Floor, 101 Lambton Quay, Wellington 6011

Email: info@fscl.org.nz

Phone: 0800 347 257

Web: www.fscl.org.nz

FSCL will not charge a fee to you to investigate or resolve a complaint.

Internal Dispute Handling Process

The Complaints Supervisor (Head of Legal and Compliance) is notified and the complaint is recorded in the complaints register. The Complaints Supervisor is responsible for identifying if it can be solved quickly or if it is a material complaint.

Complaints Supervisor acknowledges the complaint by responding to the complainant within 48 hours.

If it is a material complaint, the Complaints Supervisor creates a complaint case, informs Soteria management, and within five working days confirms to the submitter that the complaint has been received who will be dealing with the complaint, the timeframe for addressing the complaint and any requests for further information.

Then, the Complaints Supervisor conducts the first investigation of the complaint. Management is responsible for confirming the follow-up actions and the action plan to handle the complaint.

If the complaint can be resolved within 14 days after submission, the submitter will receive an answer to the complaint in writing and Soteria management will also receive a copy. If not, the submitter will receive an email confirmation within this period which will include the action plan to handle to the complaint including escalation to the CEO.

The Complaints Supervisor is responsible for ensuring the action items are completed. Soteria CEO will assess the progress and approve the formal reply to the submitter. Soteria strives to answer all complaints within 40 days.

The Complaints Supervisor will reach out to the submitter to check whether the complaint has been handled to the submitter’s satisfaction. If it has not, the Complaints Supervisor will write to the complainant about a deadlock being reached and provide the complainant with information about filing a formal complaint against Soteria with Financial Services Complaints Tribunal (FSCL).

If the submitter decides to file a formal complaint against Soteria with FSCL, Soteria CEO will act as the point of contact. The CEO is responsible for reporting to the Soteria board on the status and progress of the complaint. The complaint file is updated as applicable and closed after completion of the procedure.

The complaints register is updated throughout the process and the business process is reviewed for improvement.

Introduction

Soteria NZ (Soteria) is committed to prioritising clients’ interests. Clients are the focus of our services. We believe clients’ concerns and complaints are one of the most important ways of understanding, and learning, what we need to do to keep improving and getting better at what we do. We are committed to achieving the highest standards we can in every area of our work and to continuous improvement.

Purpose and Scope

It is the policy of Soteria to promptly, objectively, and fairly deal with all client complaints and, follow an internal complaints process similar to what a licensed MIS would be expected to follow. Soteria has no legal requirement to join an external dispute resolution service provider.

We define a complaint in accordance with the definition adopted by many dispute resolution services. A complaint is:

“An expression of dissatisfaction made to Soteria, related to its product, or the complaint handling process itself, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected”.

Our complaints policy views complaints as positive and is resolution focused. We have set out a clear, simple, single process for complaint handling. This process is designed to make it easier for clients to complain, with criteria for escalation to formal investigation and ultimately to external mediation if the complaint cannot be resolved internally.

Policy Statement

We define a complaint in accordance with the definition adopted by many dispute resolution services. A complaint is:
“An expression of dissatisfaction made to Soteria, related to its product, or the complaint handling process itself, where a response or resolution is explicitly or implicitly expected”.

Principles guiding our Policy

Accessibility
Our internal complaints process will be easily activated by any means (telephone, personal visit, letter, website and email) and by contact with any member of staff. A complainant will not be charged a fee for complaining.

Visibility
Information about our complaints handling process will be published and made available to all clients; free of charge.

Timeliness
Our internal complaints process has a built-in time frame with a defined number of steps, which can be easily communicated to the client.

Objective, impartial, and fair
We will treat all clients with respect, allow a client the right to be heard and respond to issues which have been raised. Where the matter is unable to be resolved to the client’s satisfaction in a timely manner, we will escalate it, in the first instance, for investigation and resolution to our CEO as someone who was not involved originally. In the event that the CEO was involved initially, it will be escalated for investigation and resolution to the New Zealand based independent director of the company.