Financial complaints fall by 10%, says Ombudsman

Customers of Irish financial institutions submitted 1,064 complaints to the Ombudsman for Credit Institutions in the 12 months to the end of September, with most of the problems arising in relation to the operation of accounts.

In his annual report, the Ombudsman, Mr Gerry Murphy, noted that the number of complaints was down by about 10 per cent on the same period last year and that the majority of complaints were resolved to customers' satisfaction.

Mr Murphy said 65 per cent of complaints were resolved satisfactorily after he referred them to the bank or building societies' internal complaints procedure.

The Ombudsman then initiated investigations into the remaining 35 per cent of complaints or 372 complaints. He made a binding ruling in 337 cases. In 185 of these cases, the Ombudsman found in favour of the complainant and upheld the financial institutions' stance in a further 152.

The remaining 35 were either settled or withdrawn during the investigation process.

Complaints arising from the operation of bank accounts accounted for 28 per cent of all complaints.

A further 18 per cent related to problems about mortgages while 147 complaints were made about other types of lending, which was down from 176 in the previous 12 months.

The Ombudsman noted a marked increase in the number of complaints about investments, which accounted for 33 per cent of the cases submitted.

Most concerned allegations of disappointing returns or that the customer had received inappropriate investment advice by a financial institution.

The largest area of complaint refers to maladministration and negligence and covers disputes arising from allegations of mistakes or carelessness of one kind or another. Complaints about fees and charges were broadly on a par with 2002.

The Ombudsman is an independent arbitrator appointed to investigate and rule on disputes between banks, building societies and finance houses and their customers. He can award up to €100,000 in any particular case and his findings are binding on those credit institutions.

His office is run at an annual cost of €545,000 and is funded through a levy on the credit institutions. The Ombudsman's services are available to consumers free of charge. On average, it takes about 12 weeks to resolve a case.