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.