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New Rules Make It Harder For Banks To Ignore Complaints

Treating clients fairly has become a big focus in the world of finance. Around the world regulations and rules are being put in place to try to ensure that the imbalance between the lone consumer and the giant bank organisation is minimised.

In July 2020 a conduct standard was published under the Financial Sector Regulation Act. Many of the provisions in that conduct standard have already come into effect and in July this year, a section on how complaints are deal with and reported on will come into full effect.

‘…in July this year, a section on how complaints are deal with and reported on will come into full effect’

This will mean that it will be harder for banks to ignore complaints. Even complaints made on social media. A recent report showed that this is one area where banks can vastly improve. It seems that as much as 50% of social media complaints against banks go unattended.

Banks will now be required to report to their governing bodies and other committees about complaints, risks, trends and steps taken to deal with these.

A complaint is now defined as an expression of dissatisfaction relating to a financial product or service offered by the bank. Especially where the person claims to have been treated unfairly.

Banks Strive For Customer Satisfaction

Most banks already take this sort of complaint very seriously but now they will have to tighten up their game in regard to actually doing something about complaints. It will now be harder for any department to ignore a complaint and will force better internal controls and checking. It will also make them responsible to the Regulator.

This is good for consumers who are under debt review who may feel that they are treated unfairly compared to clients who are not under debt review. The National Credit Act (NCA) also makes any form of discrimination reportable and actionable.

‘Banks want to retain their clients, including through the debt review journey’

Banks want to retain their clients, including through the debt review journey. This is one reason why they are prepared to make huge concessions for people entering the process (dropping fees and interest rates etc). It is also a reason why they should be eager to deal well with complaints. The new requirements should help them further improve in this area.