1. Overview

BlockEx is committed to providing a high-quality service to all our clients. If we do not meet your
expectations, we need you to tell us about it. We aim to ensure that any concerns are dealt with promptly and fairly. We seek to maintain our reputation as an organisation delivering a high-quality professional service ensuring that customer service and complaints handling awareness is part of our culture and that treating customers fairly is fully embedded throughout all areas of the business.
If you have a complaint. please contact us with all the details. If we cannot respond to you right away, we will write to you and let you know when you can expect our response.

2. Responsibilities

We will:

• • acknowledge the formal complaint in writing;
• • respond within a stated period of time;
• • deal reasonably and sensitively with the complaint;
• • take action where appropriate.

If you are making a complaint. you should:

• • raise concerns promptly and directly with a member of staff in BlockEx
• • bring your formal complaint. in writing, to the attention to the BlockEx Head of Compliance
  attention normally within 8 weeks of the issue arising;
• • explain the problem as clearly and as fully as possible, including any action taken to date;
• • allow BlockEx a reasonable time to deal with the matter;
• • recognise that some circumstances may be beyond BlockEx’s control.

3. Complaints Procedure

On receiving a formal complaint BlockEx will:

• 3.1. Send an email acknowledging receipt of the complaint within 5 working days of receiving it. enclosing a
  copy of this procedure.
• 3.2. Investigate the complaint. This will normally involve passing the complaint to our Head of Compliance,
  who will review the file and speak to the relevant members of staff.
• 3.3. The Head of Compliance will then invite the complainant to a meeting to discuss and resolve the
  complaint. They will do this within 14 days of sending you the acknowledgement letter.
• 3.4. Within 3 days of the meeting, the Head of Compliance will write to confirm what took place and any
  solutions that have been agreed.
• 3.5. If a meeting is not wanted or it is not possible, Head of Compliance will send a detailed written reply
  to your complaint, including their suggestions for resolving the matter, within 21 days of sending the
  acknowledgement letter.
• 3.6. At this stage, if the matter is not yet resolved, BlockEx will arrange for a senior individual
  unconnected with the matter at the firm or an appropriate alternative to review the decision.
• 3.7. BlockEx will write to you within 14 days of receiving your request for a review, confirming our final
  position on your complaint and explaining our reasons.

4. Treating Complainants Fairly

This Policy, which details our complaints handling procedures, is made available to customers through all distribution channels on request and is available for download on our website. If a customer requests this information it is provided free of charge, this is also provided when we acknowledge a complaint.

• 4.1 Complaints Received
  Complaints may be made verbally, by letter and in email form. All customer complaints are given equal importance.
• 4.2 Complaint Time Limits
  Complaints received are logged and an acknowledgement letter issued within [5 working days]. BlockEx will
  conduct a full review of the complaint, utilising the support of specialists in the appropriate business areas.

5. Confidentiality & Privacy

Except in exceptional circumstances, every attempt will be made to ensure that both the complainant and BlockEx maintain confidentiality. However the circumstances giving rise to the complaint may be such that it may not be possible to maintain confidentiality (with each complaint evaluated on its own merits). Should this be the case, the situation will be explained to the complainant.
Personal data will be treated as as outlined in your agreement with BlockEx and the firm’s GDPR policy found on the company’s website.

6. Internal Controls

• 6.1 Owner and Management Review
  The owner of this Policy is Head of Compliance. The Policy is reviewed annually and any changes to the Policy will be communicated to all staff.
• 6.2 Internal reporting.
  Any addition to the complaints log will be monitored by senior management and reviewed regularly by the Board.
• 6.3 External reporting
  For regulated aspects of our business, we report regulatory complaints to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in line with regular regulatory reporting and ad hoc reporting as needed.
• 6.4 Staff Training
  All staff, whether permanently employed or contractors, are required to sign that they have read this Policy, understand it, and that they will follow the defined process. Complaints awareness and complaints handling training is provided to all staff to ensure to ensure they handle
  complaints in a consistent manner and know how to report them to the [Complaints Handler] so that he can investigate thoroughly and impartially. This policy is maintained and issued to staff so that employees have access to the policy at all times.
• 6.5 Complaints Record Keeping
  All complaint records are retained on the complaint handling system throughout the lifecycle of the
  account in accords with our data retention policies.