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The Banking Supervision Department sees importance in providing quality service, with high availability, of receiving a human response at the call centers of the banks and credit card companies. As such, and as part of ongoing control processes, the Banking Supervision Department checked all the call centers of the banks and credit card companies, with the goal of verifying that it is simple to reach a human response at the call center, and the compliance with the provisions of the law in this regard.

 

The Banking Law[1] provisions on this issue state that a banking corporation that provides phone service including an automated system to route calls, shall provide its customers with the possibility of choosing a professional human response in regard to handling a malfunction, clarifying an account and ending a contract, at the start of the conversation with the call center.

 

The findings of the check indicated that Isracard Ltd. does not comply with the provisions of the law, as it did not provide its customers with the option of receiving a human response at the center in all that is related to ending the contract close to the beginning of the conversation.

 

The lack of providing a rapid and clear option of receiving a human response via the call center on the issue of ending a contract leads to complication of the process, as the customers are forced to wait and listen to many possibilities for routing the call, or they are forced to choose to route the call through the option of receiving another service, in order to reach a human response. Such conduct by the company is opposed to the rationale that led to establishing the obligations anchored in law on issues in which companies have no economic interest in providing the service. This becomes even more important as the call center is the main communication channel for the company’s customers who lack digital literacy.

 

In view of this, the Banking Supervision Department decided to impose on the Isracard company a financial sanction of NIS 37,500. According to the law, the maximum financial sanction amount that can be imposed for this type of violation is NIS 50,000. However, as the Banking Supervision Department found that the company acted to rectify the deficiency immediately and fully, it was decided to reduce the financial sanction amount by 25 percent, in line with the Banking (Service to the Customer) (Maximum rate of reduction of financial sanction amounts) Rules, 5771-2011.

Supervisor of Banks Mr. Yair Avidan said, “The Banking Supervision Department works to promote consumer-related fairness toward customers. This is expressed in, among other things, customer service. It is very important that the banks and credit card companies comply with the provisions of legislation that establish the providing of a human response and service in the call centers, and thus will make it possible to end a contract rapidly and easily by the customer, should the customer choose to do so. In such issues, there is no tolerance from my perspective, and we intend to continue working to provide appropriate and fair service to banking system customers.”

 

[1] Section 5a3 of the Banking (Service to the Customer) Law, 5741-1981.