The financial services ombudsman Joe Meade was sharply critical yesterday of a number of financial institutions that, he said, have questioned the constitutional basis of his position.

Mr Meade said he was "disappointed" and "surprised" at the response of some institutions to his office, which was established on a statutory basis last year.

"I expected better from the two or three concerned," said Mr Meade, declining to name the institutions involved. He said he would not be intimidated by threats of appeals, judicial reviews or referrals to the media.

The institutions concerned have expressed disquiet about the ombudsman's power to award compensation of up to €250,000.

They were also annoyed at his powers of entry and document seizure, he said.

The ombudsman's decisions against financial institutions are binding, subject to being appealed to the High Court.

Appeals have already been taken in two high-profile cases, with one involving Ulster Bank still passing through the courts.

In this case, Ulster Bank is challenging an order by Mr Meade that the bank should repay €7 million to investors who suffered a 15 per cent drop in the value of a particular investment fund.

In a separate case, Irish Nationwide started to challenge a ruling made by Mr Meade in relation to the society's charges for early repayment of fixed interest loans.

The building society dropped the challenge in May, after agreeing that such charges would in future be a "a genuine pre-estimate" of the losses it incurred.

It emerged yesterday, however, that the €30,000 award was only paid after Mr Meade pursued the matter for a second time.

The ombudsman said he was "far from impressed" with Irish Nationwide's delay.