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In 2005 the Banking Supervision Department handled 5,501 enquiries from the public, about 4,000 of which were complaints and the rest requests for information or other requests. The compensation paid by the banks as a result of the Department's handling of complaints totaled about NIS 2 million. |
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Of all the complaints regarding which a decision was made about 27 percent were found to be wholly or partly justified. |
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The main banking issues that troubled the public, based on the composition of the enquiries received, were mortgages, 21 percent; management of a bank account, 16 percent; checks, 10 percent; and fees, 10 percent. |
| The Bank of Israel's Banking Supervision Department today issued the 2005 annual summary of its activities in the Consumer Protection Area, "Handling public inquiries and drawing conclusions from them." |
| The review shows that in 2005 the Banking Supervision Department handled 5,501 enquiries from the public, about 4,000 of which were complaints and the rest requests for information or other requests. The compensation paid by the banks as a result of the Department's handling of complaints totaled about NIS 2 million. |
| Of all the complaints regarding which a decision was made about 27 percent were found to be wholly or partly justified. |
| The main banking issues that troubled the public in 2005 were mortgages, 21 percent; management of a bank account, 16 percent; checks, 10 percent; and fees, 10 percent. |
| Of the total number of complaints concerning each of the major banks, the lowest percentage of justified complaints, 16.1 percent, occurred in Bank Leumi, followed by the First International Bank with 25.4 percent, Mizrahi Bank, 27.9 percent, Israel Discount Bank, 29 percent. The highest percentage of justified complaints, 30.3 percent, occurred in Bank Hapoalim. |
| Of the total number of complaints concerning each of the credit card companies, the lowest percentage of justified complaints, 6.9 percent, was found in Leumi Card, followed by Israel Credit Cards (ICC) with 14.3 percent and Isracard with 17.6 percent. |
| In addition
to handling specific complains, the Department dealt with 11
different issues that arose from the information reaching the
Banking Supervision via customers' complaints and other sources
relating to the commercial banks and the mortgage banks. As
a result of the handling of these subjects by the Banking Supervision
Department, banks had to return a total of NIS 20 million to
the relevant groups of customers. The total amount of money
returned to groups of customers following conclusions drawn
from handling public inquiries and from other information received
came to NIS 123 million over the last four years. |
| Handling inquiries from banks' customers is part of the broader activity of the Banking Supervision Department to protect customers' rights, together with approaches to the Uniform Contracts Court to cancel or change unfair terms in the banking system's uniform contracts, monitoring the banks' fees, directing the banks with regard to the proper way to act vis-?-vis customers, etc. |
| The following were among the steps taken in these areas by the Banking Supervision Department: the arrangement known as the "package deal" concerning fees, that led to a significant lowering of the cost of handling a current account, in particular for customers with a medium or low level of activity in the account; the directive of the Proper Conduct of Banking Business on transferring activity and closing a bank account, incorporating a series of measures aimed at making it easier for customers to switch banks, alongside a significant lowering of the costs incurred in such a transfer; and directives of the Proper Conduct of Banking Business on subjects such as credit limits and debit cards. |
| The Consumer Protection Area in the Banking Supervision Department is at bank customers' service in all matters related to banking consumerism: telephone 02- 6552680; fax 02 -6552668; POB 780 Jerusalem, 91007. |
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