It looks like FNB and Discovery Bank have made major strides in the complaints department

According to the 2021 OBS Annual Report, FNB had a 34% decrease in complaints and/or disputes. Photographer: Nadine Hutton/Bloomberg

According to the 2021 OBS Annual Report, FNB had a 34% decrease in complaints and/or disputes. Photographer: Nadine Hutton/Bloomberg

Published May 12, 2022

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As part of its ongoing support for the work of the Ombudsman for Banking Services (OBS), First National Bank said that it welcomed the release of the Ombudsman’s 2021 Annual Report which includes disputes between customers and banks.

According to the 2021 OBS Annual Report, FNB had a 34% decrease in complaints and/or disputes, making it the only major bank to record a decrease in formal complaints during the period.

Jacques Celliers, FNB CEO said, the Ombud plays a critical role in assisting customers and banks with resolving complaints and disputes.

"While the number of complaints that are referred to the OBS accounts for a small fraction of our overall customer interactions, we take the feedback received from the OBS very seriously. This is part of our commitment to putting customers' needs first as we continue building a trusted platform business," he said.

"Feedback from our customers and the OBS has allowed us to calibrate our processes to improve our turnaround times on complaints and provide meaningful responses to all customer enquiries. Furthermore, we have regular engagements with the office of the Ombud regarding any complaints that have been escalated to the OBS, and we are pleased to see positive results from our collective efforts to ensure service excellence in our industry," explained Celliers.

WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER BANKS?

Banking complaints have continued to rise in 2021 after a significant jump of 19% in 2020, the Ombud’s report said.

The OBS finalised 8 039 cases in 2021, up 9% from 7 230 cases in 2020.

Here are how SA banks ranked:

First National Bank: The bank saw a significant drop from 2 197 complaints in 2020 to 1 452 complaints in 2021, representing a 34% decrease.

Discovery Bank: The bank saw a decrease in complaints by 26.7%.

Standard Bank: The bank saw an increase of 31.6% in the number of the complaints with a total number increasing from 1 572 complaints logged in 2020 to 2 070 in 2021.

Capitec bank: The bank saw an increase in complaints from 1 259 cases in 2020 to 1 651 in 2021 representing a 31.1% increase.

Absa: The bank saw an increase from 943 cases in 2020 to 1 068 cases in 2021 representing a 13.3% increase.

Nedbank: The bank saw an increase of 1,273 of the cases opened. This represented an increase of 4.3%.

TymeBank: The bank saw a huge increase in the number of complaints logged in 2021 with an increase of 870.8%.

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