A total of 1 922 complaints were received by the Banking Adjudicator
between May and December last year, compared with 1 899 received in the 18
months to the end of April 1999.
Of the 1 922 that were received, 1 213 were finalised and 416 were not
investigated because the necessary form for assistance was not sent in, or
further information was not supplied or it was beyond the jurisdiction of
the adjudicator.
Of the 797 complaints investigated, 42 percent were decided in favour of
consumers and 58 percent in favour of the banks.
ATM crimes topped the list of complaints that were fully investigated and
24 percent of complaints, or five percent more than last year, were
resolved in the consumer`s favour.
The greatest number of complaints was received from Gauteng.
The average time taken to resolve a complaint was 100 days, but David John,
Acting Banking Adjudicator, is confident that in future it will be quicker
because new arrangements were put in place this month.
Bank customers were paid out more than R4 million in compensation.
This
includes an amount of R1,5 million which one bank refunded to a
non-governmental organisation for a forged cheque. The bank wrongly paid
the cheque into an account name which differed from the name to which the
cheque was made out even though it was marked ``not transferable``.
The 230 successful complaints received an average payment of around R11
000 each if the R1,5 million is excluded from the calculation.