Several complaints are received in State Bank of Pakistan
every day stating that concerned banks/DFIs, due to bureaucratic
attitude/behavior, are not attending to their grievances resulting
in either financial losses or damage to their businesses.
In this regard, it has also been noted that complaints forwarded
by SBP to various banks/DFIs are also not responded to promptly
which results in a delay in deciding the issue. This state
of affairs indicates that banks/DFIs either do not have a
unit/section to deal with complaints or do not have a proper
mechanism/procedure for resolution of public/clients’
grievances. This has been viewed with concern by SBP. Accordingly,
it has been decided that each bank/DFI should immediately
identify & entrust responsibility to an appropriate senior
person to deal with all sort of complaints, either received
directly by them or referred through different agencies/institutions,
including SBP. In case where some of the banks/DFIs already
have entrusted the work to a unit/section, the same may be
strengthened appropriately.
2.
In this regard, the banks/DFIs shall observe the following
minimum guidelines:-
i)
Identify and entrust the responsibility to an appropriate
senior person to handle all sort of complaints received.
ii) The name, designation and contact details (phone, fax,
e-mail, mobile etc) of person so identified alongwith an
officer working with him/her in this area may be sent to
SBP immediately. In case of any change in the name of concerned
officer(s), the same may be notified alongwith aforesaid
details within 2 days to Director, Banking Policy Department.
iii)
The person and section/unit entrusted the work must:-
a)
Acknowledge all the complaints;
b)
Address/handle and investigate the complaints in a fair
and prompt manner;
c)
Devise a system for redressal of the complaints in an appropriate
and courteous manner and the reply to the complainant must
be clear and indicate the reasons/rationale of the decision
being conveyed to him/her. If possible, the reply may be
sent in Urdu language where the complainant has used the
language other than English.
d)
Identify the complaints of recurring nature and ensure that
immediate corrective action is taken in that area.
e)
Monitor the status of complaints received against the banks/DFIs,
analyze the data periodically for improving this activity.
A regular report, containing statistics on the volume and
type of complaints received, settled/redressed, outstanding
etc., should be submitted periodically to management for
review.
iv) The complaints must be responded within a period of
10 working days. Where a complaint requires further investigation,
an interim reply must be sent indicating the reasons for
the time to be taken and expected date of action/response.
However, in any case, the final reply may be sent within
a period not exceeding 45 working days, barring cases where
reasonable grounds exist on record for not complying within
the prescribed time period.
v) Regular audit of complaint unit/section must be conducted
by internal auditors to check the performance, effectiveness
and utility of unit/section.
3.
In order to communicate to their customers and for expeditious
resolution of complaints/grievances, the Banks/DFIs, within
one month from the date of issuance of this circular, shall
make appropriate arrangements to:-
a)
Prepare a leaflet indicating the procedure for lodgment
of a complaint and its resolution both in English and Urdu
for the convenience of their customers and also post it
on notice boards at each of their branch/office as also
on their website (if available).
b)
Supply a copy of the leaflet to customers upon request.
c)
Make available copies of their internal complaint handling
procedures, in each of their branches and offices to which
customers have access for expeditious disposal of complaints.
4.
Banks/DFIs must also ensure that where a complaint needs
to be probed further the same may be investigated by an
employee who is not directly involved with that particular
complaint. The staff dealing with complaints should be provided
appropriate training in order to enhance their skills in
expeditious resolution of complaints and related matters/issues.
5.
The complaints forwarded by State Bank of Pakistan should
also be handled by the person/ section/unit as indicated
at para 2(i), 2(ii) and 2(iv) above. The designated person
shall be the contact person for SBP in this regard.
6.
State Bank of Pakistan, during the course of inspection,
would particularly check the performance, effectiveness
and functioning of the Complaint Section. Strict action
as per provisions of law shall be taken against the bank/DFI
and the concerned staff members of the complaint section/unit
for non-compliance of instructions and negligence in handling
complaints. In determining the overall assessment/performance
of the banks during the course of onsite inspection, the
functioning of complaints section/unit, besides other, shall
also be taken into account.
7.
Please acknowledge receipt.