Following a recommendation from the World Bank, four formerly- separate industry ombud schemes have now been merged under the National Financial Ombud Scheme (NFO). They were the Ombudsman for Banking Services South Africa (OBS); the Credit Ombud (CO); Ombudsman for Long-Term Insurance (OLTI) and Ombudsman for Short-Term Insurance (OSTI). To find out how this impacts on operations, as well as to discuss the role of their services, Lester Kiewit speaks to Denise Gabriels, Lead Ombud for the Life Insurance Division at the National Financial Ombud Scheme.