Banks

Here is a list of banks with most complaints in 2023. Images: Archive/Ashraf Hendricks via Groundup

LIST: Top South African banks with most complaints in 2023

The number of bank complaints recorded in 2023 comes as no surprise as Capitec leads the way. Here is a list of banks with most complaints.

Banks

Here is a list of banks with most complaints in 2023. Images: Archive/Ashraf Hendricks via Groundup

There is a rising number of consumers who find themselves battling with banks through the Ombud for Banking Services South Africa, you can take wild guess who is leading the list.

ALSO READ:  LIST: Here are the best smartphones under R3,000 in South Africa

Consumers complaining via the OBS

South African consumers are increasingly bypassing their banks and taking their fights to the Ombud for Banking Services South Africa (OBS), even before exhausting all the internal complaint channels their service provider offers.

According to News24, the OBS saw a 13% jump in these “premature” cases in the past year, even though queries that eventually became formal complaints decreased by 5%.

ALSO READ: LIST: Here are the cheapest big-screen TV’s in South Africa

The Ombud gives service providers 20 days to resolve the issue directly with the complainant. It’s only when banks don’t address the complaint to their customers’ satisfaction or don’t respond to the OBS within 20 days that these are converted to formal cases.

Of the 12 032 premature cases the Ombud receives, only 5 700 became formal cases. 

ALSO READ: Petrol prices: Here are the expected petrol prices for June

List of banks with most complaints

Unsurprisingly, Capitec led the pack with over 1 800 formal cases, overtaking Standard Bank, which wore the dreaded crown in 2021. FNB had the most formal cases investigated by the OBS in 2020.

Banks
Capitec leads the way in the list of banks with the most complaints in South Africa. Image: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg

ALSO READ: WhatsApp: New feature added, WhatsApp Chat Lock

However, OBS’s operations manager, Edrich Buytendorp, was quick to point out that the number of formal complaints opened per bank doesn’t mean that the service provider is the most-complained-about in the country.

“The number of files open per bank is not necessarily indicative of the service provider’s complaint handling performance, or its performance in general for that matter. Banks vary considerably in size, client profiles and product mix. These factors all impact the number of complaints made against the service provider to the OBS,” he said.

ALSO READ: LIST: Vehicles that are mostly targeted in hijackings in South Africa

Here is a list of top South African banks with the most complaints in 2023:

  1. Capitec
  2. Nedbank
  3. Standard Bank
  4. ABSA
  5. FNB

ALSO READ: LIST: WhatsApp will stop working on these smartphones

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ARTICLES BY CWENGA MAQHUBELA