Standard Bank saw the most significant drop in complaints. From Moneyweb.
Nedbank and Capitec had the biggest increase in complaints in 2022, and Standard Bank the biggest drop, according to the Ombudsman for Banking Services (OBS) annual report for 2022, which was released on Wednesday.
Nedbank had 1 508 complaints in 2022, an 18% increase over 2021. Capitec had 1 826 complaints, an increase of 11% over the previous year – mainly because of the bank’s growth in customer numbers, says the Ombud.
Capitec also had the best turnaround time for closing complaints at 58 days. Standard Bank’s turnaround time was the worst at 73 days.
Standard Bank and FNB saw the number of complaints drop by 31% and 21%, respectively, in 2022.
Absa had the lowest number of cases among the big banks and remained level (1 068 compared with 1 063 in 2021).
Overall, there was a 13% increase in premature complaints – those that the dispute department within the banks had not considered. Another positive trend is the number of days to close cases, which reduced from 70 to 67 days.
While referrals were up, there was a 5% decrease in formal cases opened by the banks, which could be attributed to banks attempting to resolve matters internally.
“There is also a drive to improve customer experience and avoid negative public sentiment,” says banking Ombud Reana Steyn.
“However, our overall active case numbers have remained high, with an average of 1 424 cases open at any given time.”
Types of complaints
Banking fraud related to current accounts and internet banking remains high on the list of complaints to the Ombud. Current account complaints increased by 3% in 2022, accounting for 22% of all cases. Almost two-thirds of these were related to fraud.
Digital banking accounted for 17% of total complaints, slightly up from the previous year.
“The biggest subcategories of complaints in this regard are mobile banking fraud and vishing,” says Steyn.
Vishing, or voice phishing, is when a fraudster calls a customer by phone or leaves voice messages purporting to be from a reputable company to glean personal information such as bank details and credit card numbers.
Complaints about personal loans made up 13% of total cases opened, while credit cards were the subject of 7% of total complaints. Steyn says it appears that the banks are settling more credit card-related matters themselves, as her office opened 7% fewer of these cases in 2022.
