Power Of Attorney

A financial services provider must exercise reasonable care when managing account access and must fairly compensate consumers for losses and distress caused by errors in doing so.

Financial institutions have a legal obligation to protect customers' funds from scam risk, and restrictions on account access to fulfill this duty are reasonable even if they create hardship, provided the institution offers reasonable adjus

Businesses are entitled to set their own internal policies and technology choices, and the ombudsman cannot require them to change these policies even if they cause inconvenience to customers.

A financial institution is not unreasonable in being unable to produce detailed records from nearly 18 years ago, and the absence of such records does not constitute evidence of wrongdoing where the account operated without incident.

A bank may restrict online access to accounts based on its commercial policies and risk assessment, provided it offers alternative reasonable means of access for authorized power of attorney holders.