Have you encountered instances where you were dissatisfied with a product or service provided by a financial institution such as a bank, credit institution, insurance company, licensed broker or agent, Fiji National Provident Fund, a foreign exchange dealer or a capital market intermediary? Have you lodged a complaint with the institution as a result of your dissatisfaction? Has your complaint been addressed? Are you satisfied with the outcome of the complaint? Some of you may have raised complaints while others may not know how to do so. Did you know that the Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF) has put in place a complaints management framework to ensure your complaints are addressed effectively and efficiently by financial institutions? These are some questions that this article hopes to shed light on.
As part of the RBF’s standards governing Licensed Financial Institutions (LFIs) in Fiji, the RBF issued a policy guideline on complaints management in January 2010. The objective of the guideline is to provide LFIs with a minimum framework for complaints management, to ensure that customer complaints are promptly investigated and resolved in a satisfactory manner.