Banking Ombudsman Scheme gets three new directors
30 April 2025
The Banking Ombudsman Scheme is adding another director to its board and at the same time replacing two departing directors.
Hon Heather Roy will become the board’s second independent director – along with chair Miriam Dean – following the recommendation of a recent review to add a sixth member to help ensure continued confidence in the impartiality of the scheme. The scheme’s constitution was amended late last year to enable the establishment of the new role.
Simultaneously, Professor Jodi Gardner is replacing Kenina Court as one the board’s two consumer representatives, while Westpac Chief Executive Catherine McGrath takes over from ANZ Chief Executive Antonia Watson as one of the board’s two banking representatives.
Ms Roy has been a professional director since leaving Parliament, where she served as Minister of Consumer Affairs in 2011. She was chair of Utilities Disputes Ltd until 2024.
Professor Gardner is the Brian Coote Chair in Private Law at the Auckland Faculty of Law and her research focuses on the relationship between private law and social policy. She previously worked as a consumer advocate and a community lawyer specialising in consumer protection.
Ms McGrath has more than 25 years’ experience in financial services.
Ms Dean said the new additions would bring a wealth of expertise in governance, consumer rights, frontline banking and legal scholarship to the board’s decision-making.
“The sector faces a variety of challenges, scam prevention, responding to financial hardship, access to services, open banking and new technology, and I am confident the new line-up will help the scheme contribute to resolving these challenges.”
She said the three new members would start their duties at the next board meeting this month.
For media enquiries contact:
Nicola Sladden
Banking Ombudsman
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 021 808 059
Banking Ombudsman Scheme backs banks’ stronger consumer protections from scams
23 April 2025
The Banking Ombudsman Scheme has welcomed today’s announcement by banks that they will crack down on scams.
Banking Ombudsman Nicola Sladden said the scheme had been calling for stronger consumer protections from scams for some time.
“We see first-hand the emotional and financial cost of scams. Beyond the monetary impact, victims endure the distress of being deceived, leading to a loss of confidence to operate online.
“Consumers are doing more and more online, making it increasingly vital they have a safe digital environment in which to make payments and transfer money.
“We’re pleased the confirmation of payee system is now in place. It’s an obvious way to fight back against scammers.”
Ms Sladden also welcomed other initiatives such as greater sharing of intelligence, improved fraud detection systems and warnings for high-risk transactions.
“These initiatives will all help in the fight against the scourge of scams. However, for scam prevention measures to be truly successful, more cross-sector collaboration is needed.
“New Zealand will not be able to defeat scammers unless all relevant government and non-government organisations work in concert. Scammers will continue to exploit vulnerabilities in the eco-system, so any counter-measures must be equally broad in scope.”
She said the Government, relevant agencies such as the police and the National Cyber Security Centre, banks, telecommunications companies and digital platforms must work together to make scam prevention stronger at every level.
“We also welcome the updated Code of Banking Practice. It is a step forward. The updated Code now provides a basis for banks to compensate customers for scam losses for both authorised and unauthorised payment scams.”
Ms Sladden said the scheme believed the introduction of comprehensive, mandatory codes of practice for banks, telecommunication companies and digital platforms governing their responsibilities in preventing scams and the scope of their liability in the event of scam losses was long overdue.
“Enforceable standards will help lift the bar on preventing scams. Such standards will provide clarity for consumers and industry, which will help deliver effective resolution.
“We look forward to increased collaboration with banks, consumer groups, regulators and government agencies to prevent scams.”
The scheme received 949 scam cases in the 2023-24 financial year. The average loss for escalated scam cases (disputes) was $80,000 – up from $57,000 the previous year.
About the scheme
The Banking Ombudsman Scheme is a free and independent dispute resolution service. We look into complaints by customers about their banks. Sometimes we make formal decisions, but often we facilitate outcomes agreeable to the customer and the bank before that. We also help in other ways, such as offering information and guidance on banking matters. We put the customer at the heart of what we do.
About us | Banking Ombudsman Scheme
Media enquiries: [email protected] or 021808059
Scheme to publish quarterly figures on bank complaints
24 January 2025
Consumers will now have a better picture of banking problems following the Banking Ombudsman Scheme’s decision to begin publishing quarterly reports on the cases it receives.
The reports, the first of which is published today, share insights about cases received by the scheme. They provide a breakdown of cases by bank, the proportion of complaints and disputes received by banks relative to their market share, top problem areas and products, the time taken to resolve disputes, compensation paid, and other insights gleaned from the data.
Banking Ombudsman Nicola Sladden said the reports would shine a spotlight on the scheme’s performance, but also introduce more transparency and accountability into the banking sector.
“Information is power, and the more information customers have, the more they can make informed choices about whether to make a complaint, and what to expect if they do.”
Ms Sladden said the reports would provide more timely and detailed data than that contained in summarised form in the scheme’s annual reports. They would also help inform and educate consumers, as well as supplement information found on the scheme’s complaints dashboard, which compiles data from banks about the number and types of complaints received by banks.
The quarterly report, for the period of October to December 2024, shows the scheme received 1,429 cases, including 938 complaints and 50 disputes. Complaints were down 11 per cent and disputes down 24 per cent on the previous quarter, although mainly for seasonal reasons.
Scam-related complaints continued to feature prominently, making up a fifth of all complaints. Phishing and information harvesting scams were the biggest contributors. Complaints about unsuccessful hardship applications fell, but complaints about internet banking more than doubled, largely as a result of technical malfunctions and outages.
Almost 6 per cent of complaints escalated to disputes, which was down on the previous quarter’s figure of 16 per cent. Scam-related disputes fell 36 per cent compared with the previous quarter, and 63 per cent of such complaints for the financial year to date have been resolved partly or fully in favour of the customer – compared with 52 per cent for all types of disputes.
During the quarter, banks reimbursed or paid compensation of $339,961 to customers who sought the scheme’s help to resolve their complaint, down from $591,703 for the previous quarter.
See the quarterly report here.