South African banks raked over the coals over consumer complaints

The majority of South African banks have been found to handle consumer complaints unsatisfactorily, according to a report by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA).

This report, published in March 2025, assessed banks’ adherence to section 8 of Conduct Standard 3 of 2020, the conduct standard for banks, between 18 July and 17 November 2022.

While the FSCA requested data from 29 banks, only 23 complied, providing data for 316,133 complaints.

The review specifically focussed on seven subsections of the conduct standard, with banks receiving a “satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory” rating for each.

These included:

• Categorisation of reportable complaints received
• Accurate, efficient, and secure recording of complaint
• Maintaining complaints data in line with minimum categories
• Acknowledgement of complaints received and process information
• Adequately informing complainants about progress
• Communication of ombud details during the customer journey
• Complaint outcome and review process

The review found that only 40% of banks satisfactorily categorised complaints received with the categories provisioned in subsection seven of the standard.

The regulator said this was partly due to some banks categorising complaints according to the Treating Customers Fairly approach, having not yet transitioned to using the Conduct Standard for Banks.

South African banks’ ability to satisfactorily comply with the recording of complaints accurately, efficiently, and securely was even lower, with only two major banks doing so appropriately.

This was due to most banks not satisfactorily categorising their complaints and failing to keep copies of all documents, communications, and decisions they should provided to the FSCA.

The report noted that one of the two compliant banks experienced difficulty aligning the customer details captured on the registers with its complaints management system.

Similarly, only three of South Africa’s major banks, and 30% of all reviewed, satisfactorily maintained data on complaints received and categorised according to subsection seven.

The FSCA says most banks did not record how many complaints had been referred to ombuds, nor was there any information about compensations made.

According to subsection 21 of the Conduct Standard, banks must also promptly notify a complainant about receiving a complaint and the process to be followed. However, the FSCA found that 85% of banks fail to do so satisfactorily.

This also involved failing to provide complainants with the details of the necessary ombud. Instead, the regulator found that complainants were often referred to the South African Police Services.

The largest noncompliance involved keeping complainants up to date with the progress and any delays concerning their complaints, as per subsection 22. Only 8% of banks reviewed satisfactorily did so, according to the FSCA.

The regulator said the 92% noncompliance rate was primarily due to banks’ inability to provide evidence that they had adequately informed complainants about the progress of their decisions in response to complaints.

Like subsection 21, subsection 23 states that banks must provide financial customers and complainants with the contact details and availability of the necessary ombudsman.

However, the FSCA said that 85% of banks did not satisfy this requirement.

Compliance with subsection 13 of the Conduct Standard, which requires banks to provide adequate reasoning for a complaint’s outcome and how to review it, was also significantly low.

However, the review only measured compliance when a complaint had been rejected. The regulator found that only 8% of banks were compliant in this instance.

The FSCA said that it provided feedback following the completion of the review, with several banks implementing measures to improve their compliance with section eight of the Conduct Standard.