The latest report showed the scheme received 1429 cases in the fourth quarter, including 938 complaints and 50 disputes. Photo: RNZ
Scam-related complaints make up one in five of all complaints to the Banking Ombudsman in the three months ended December, with close to two-thirds resolved in favour of customers.
The fourth quarter report found phishing and information harvesting scams were the biggest contributors to banking complaints, while complaints about unsuccessful hardship applications fell and complaints about internet banking more than doubled, largely as a result of technical malfunctions and outages.
Ombudsman Nicola Sladden said almost 6 percent of complaints escalated to disputes, which was down on the September quarter's 16 percent.
Scam-related disputes were also down 36 percent compared with the previous quarter, while 63 percent of such complaints for 2024 were resolved partly or fully in favour of the customer - compared with 52 percent for all types of disputes.
Banking Ombudsman Nicola Sladden said the move to quarterly reporting would shine a spotlight on the Banking Ombudsman Scheme's performance, and bring more transparency and accountability into the banking sector.
"Information is power, and the more information customers have, the more they can make informed choices about whether to make a complaint, and what to expect if they do," she said.
The latest report showed the scheme received 1429 cases in the fourth quarter, including 938 complaints and 50 disputes.
That represented an 11 percent drop in complaints, with disputes down 24 percent on the previous quarter, although mainly for seasonal reasons.
During the quarter, banks reimbursed or paid compensation of $339,961 to customers who sought the scheme's help to resolve their complaint, down from $591,703 for the previous quarter.
