Banking Ombudsman 2017-18 annual report released

Banking Ombudsman 2017-18 annual report released

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The Banking Ombudsman Scheme has released its summary annual report detailing another successful year.

“As we enter the second year of our 2017-2020 strategic plan we are really seeing the benefits of preventative model of dispute resolution come to life,” says Banking Ombudsman Nicola Sladden.

“There has been an increase in cases and timeliness, strengthened communications and stakeholder engagement, together with a drop in disputes. We are providing information and guidance to complainants and banks to empower them to resolve their disputes early on, thereby reducing overall dispute numbers.”

The scheme’s overall caseload increased by 14 per cent while dispute numbers decreased, indicating the early resolution service is working as intended.

Customer satisfaction remains high at 80 per cent. “Our working day count and timeliness performance have significantly improved.” The scheme resolved 97 per cent of its complaints within two days and improved its dispute resolution timeframes by 11 per cent.

“The scheme is successful because we can give customers fair outcomes that are more flexible than the courts.” This year 8 per cent more outcomes were favourable to customers compared with last year.

“We have continued to make an impact by sharing more lessons from our cases, strengthening our consumer and industry engagement, and engaging in a large number of policy initiatives to share a consumer perspective.”

In addition to the scheme’s resolution function, the prevention team have focused on raising awareness and accessibility of the scheme.

Based on MBIE’s two-yearly consumer awareness survey, the Banking Ombudsman Scheme is the most well-known financial dispute resolution scheme in New Zealand. “Over the last year our awareness activities have focused on audiences who may not have known about us through our usual channels.” This year the scheme launched an Instagram page, @ombuddies, targeted at youth.

“In terms of accessibility, we continued to make our service and our educational information more accessible and easier to use by putting all of our content into plain English.”

The scheme also invested in a new website which has better search functionality and is easier to navigate. Since its launch in mid-April more people are using online channels to submit their complaints and there has been a good uptake on live webchat.

ends

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