Complaints resolved at the Banco de España

22/07/2019

Last week we gave you some data from the Annual Complaints Report of the Banco de España on the complaints received in 2018: 19,695. But, what happened to them? Have they all been resolved? Did the claimants have their expectations met?

Firstly, you should know that not all complaints received are accepted for processing. The main reasons for rejecting a complaint are incidents relating to the form of presentation (such as the failure to provide the necessary documentation) or relating to matters that are not within the Banco de España’s remit. So that this does not happen to you, make sure you are well informed if you are going to complain and click here.

Also, even if the complaint is initially accepted for processing, it may not be resolved: this occurs if a reason for inadmissibility is subsequently found or if, for whatever reason, the claimant withdraws.

Complaints that are finally resolved may conclude either with a reasoned report –in the claimant’s favour or otherwise– or with the institution accepting and settling the complaint –i.e. a rectification by the institution before issuing the report. Following a report in the claimant’s favour, the institution may rectify its conduct, or not.

Bearing this in mind, the figures are as follows:

  • In 2018, institutions –before or after the report– rectified their conduct in 70.6% of cases. In other words, on more than 7 out of 10 occasions customers saw their complaints satisfied, after resorting to the Banco de España.
  • Accepting and settling of complaints by institutions (prior to the report) accounted for 30.6% of resolved complaints, the highest level in the last five years. However, the percentage of reports in the claimant’s favour is, in turn, the lowest in recent years.
    This implies a change in the institutions' customer services: on the one hand, they are taking on board the criteria of the Banco de España and, therefore, incidents where the Banco de España would agree with the claimant are satisfactorily resolved before they reach us and, thus, there are fewer favourable reports; and, on the other hand, they are rectifying their conduct to a greater extent even before the report is issued.
  • Within the framework of the Banco de España complaints procedure, our records show that in 2018 institutions returned €2,634,767 euros to their customers. You can learn more about the consequences that a complaint can have in this post.

Finally, if you would like more detail on these data or on the information on the complaints received, or to learn about institutions’ behaviour by subject matter or to access the most comprehensive statistical information, you can consult the 2018 Complaints ReportAbre en ventana nueva.

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