My word is your bond

EVERY word is weighed carefully in the considered style of a judge. But make no mistake, after meeting Walter Merricks you are left in no doubt that his belief in justice is passionate.

Which is just as well, because as the rather grandly titled chief ombudsman and operational head of the Financial Ombudsman Service, Merricks will have ruled on an estimated 100,000 complaints against financial services companies by the end of the year.

His passion is illustrated by the story a colleague tells of a particularly difficult case in which a life insurance company mistakenly told a man his wife had died.

The issue had been bounced around the insurer's own complaints department before rising through the layers of the ombudsman system, with the company refusing to apologise. Incensed by the shoddy treatment of the customer, Merricks ordered the insurer's chief executive to deliver flowers to the husband and apologise in person.

Work can be tough, but Merricks enjoys a laugh. At Oxford, he was a contemporary in student revues with Michael Palin and was half of a comedy double act with former ITN political editor John Sergeant. 'I'm sure John was far funnier than me,' he says modestly.

Being able to see the funny side is probably what keeps, Merricks, 58, from being crushed by the mountain of complaints he and his team tackle. They handle grievances on everything from mortgage endowments to disputed credit references and have received 20,000 complaints in six months about endowments. They expect 30,000 more by next March.

And they can hand out stinging punishments - binding awards of up to £100,000 with even higher voluntary payments. The biggest award was £350,000.

Merricks reckons on a 58% increase in workload over the coming year and is recruiting 100 extra staff, taking the total to more than 760. And they will be needed. Next year, the ombudsman will start to deal with complaints against mortgage brokers and insurance intermediaries. Also, the Department of Trade and Industry is considering giving it a wider remit over consumer credit companies.

Three years of falling stock markets have also stoked up business for the ombudsman. 'People don't complain if their investment doubles in value, even if it was originally unsuited to their needs,' says Merricks.

Svelte from his regular weekend tennis and looking younger than his years, Merricks is not one to stand on ceremony. His desk is in an open-plan office, albeit in a corner with views over London's Docklands.

And he travels around on a Kawasaki 550GT motorbike, commuting from his home in north London and flitting between appointments.

At present, Merricks is in buoyant mood. Last year, the ombudsman revised the way it works with the Financial Services Authority so it can act as an early warning system.

Merricks says: 'There are times when we realise that a case may have wider implications.' A prime example is the mis-selling of high-income, or 'precipice', bonds for which Lloyds TSB was fined £1.9m last week.

'We started to see a number of cases and we alerted the FSA,' Merricks recalls. 'We did not realise how deep the problem went, and though we have now seen about 1,000 cases we cannot tell the company to compensate its other investors - but the FSA can, so 22,500 more people will get back their money.'

Some in the industry claim that the ombudsman service is getting too big for its boots and is making policy on the hoof.

Merricks is unrepentant. 'We're not here to be popular. We decide cases on what is right and that upsets people on all sides. We didn't dream up dual rate mortgages or split capital investment trusts.'

With all this responsibility, Merricks might be expected to relax in his spare time. Not a bit of it. He is on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which sets ethical guidelines on issues such as the use of embryos in research.

His interest is personal - he and wife Olivia conceived two children with the help of donors.

'It is a hugely challenging area and I find it fascinating to be involved in a completely different type of regulation,' he says.

But now, he is focusing on a party for the 30th anniversary of the community law centre in Camden, north London, which he set up as a newly-qualified solicitor. It helps locals with legal problems and brings justice to the poor.

Merricks' passion for justice has taken him a long way from the streets of Kentish Town.