11 November, 2009

The Ombudsman for Banking Services (OBS) has set a precedent over the years in rewarding banks and their employees for quality service when handling your banking complaint. 

"This is an annual event and on Friday 13th November the king of complaint handling will be unmasked," said the Ombudsman Clive Pillay. "We pride ourselves on quality service at the OBS as is evident from our time frames in dealing with a complaint."

The awards are designed to get the banks to improve their service when you have a gripe against them. There are two categories into which the banks are divided.

They are separated by the size of their asset market share and the volumes of complaints that come to the OBS.

"We cannot expect to throw all the banks into the same pot as they all have different product offerings and cater for different levels of the market," comments Pillay. 

From the OBS annual report, it's clear that the big four are in a category on their own. They compete on a large scale for market share therefore the OBS receives the bulk of complaints from consumers that bank with the big four.

The OBS also has an award of excellence which is presented to a bank employee in the two categories who has provided excellent service, as judged by their interactions with the OBS. 

"There are certain qualities that we look for in nominees for this award. We look beyond systems and processes. There is almost a sense of compassion that we look for in employees dealing with customers complaints," says Pillay.

The OBS conducts an assessment of each complaint received from all the banks and assess the employees that interact with the OBS in deriving the nominees for the various categories.