More than 7,700 official complaints have been lodged with the Ombudsman for Banking Services in South Africa, who published their annual report for the 2020 financial year, which contains the most common complaints against banks, as well as bankers, because the relationship between larger customers and the banker is also in the report. 6,472 complaints were received the previous year (2019).
Some complaints are brought to the attention of the Bank with the expectation of getting a response to them and for reporting to the Ombudsman. In this regard, the Ombudsman referred 8,389 cases back to the Banks concerned, which is a sharp increase compared to the 4,709 returned to banks in 2019.
Complaints related to matters on current accounts included fraud, fees charged, and other costs, as well as banks’ negligence in issuing warnings of accounts to be closed by the bank. The Ombudsman also closed 981 accounts involving internet fraud.
Numerous complaints about credit cards, ATM complaints and even complaints related to Covid-19 with banking services have been received.
ABSA had 943 complaints against them, which is 36% less than the previous hair, and FNB had the most with 2,197, which is an increase of 22%. Standard Bank had 1,572 cases against it which is 28% more than the previous year, and Nedbank had 1,217 complaints which is 10% more than before, while Capitec had the biggest increase with 1,259 cases, which is 35% more than the previous year.