The Bank of Tanzania headquarters in Dar es Salaam
This requirement, according to the central bank, is a prerequisite
for the desk to operate smoothly, including reducing the time frame of
dealing with a particular complaint lodged by a customer.
Mustafa Ismail, BoT’s Associate Director for the department of
Litigation and Investigation, has been prompted to issue clarification
to the public in the wake of the decision by the central bank to
establish the complaints’ desk.
According to the associate director, exhausting banks’ internal
complaints resolution mechanism is important simply because each banking
institution has put in place a complaint resolution mechanism capable of efficiently and promptly resolving customers’ complaints.
“Your banking institution will keep you updated throughout the
process. It will resolve your complaint within 21 days from the date of
lodging your complaint,” Ismail said in brief handout availed to press
on Thursday evening this week.
He added: “In exceptional circumstances, if your banking
institution is unable to resolve your complaint within 21 days, it will
immediately inform you of its inability and reasons for such inability
and what measures are being taken to resolve the complaint urgently and
in any case not more than 14 days thereafter”.
According to the complaint lodging procedures laid down by BoT,
when the customer of a particular bank is dissatisfied with the decision
of his/her banking institution or he/she has not received a response
from his/her banking institution within 21 days from the date they
lodged their complaints, they may within 14 days lodge their complaints
with the BoT desk.
However, in exceptional circumstances and upon showing good cause,
the desk may extend the duration for lodging a complaint but such
extension shall not exceed an additional 14 days.
Associate director Ismail insisted that for the complaint to
qualify for BoT’s desk registration it must be lodged before expiry of
two years after the cause of action arose.
Information you must include in the complaint are: the name and
address of the complainant, the name and address of the banking
institution against which the complaint is made, details of the
complaint, including what exactly the bank did that it shouldn’t have
done or what it didn’t do that it should have done.
The complainant must also explain what he/she has lost in terms of
personal injustice, financial loss, hardship or inconvenience, what
would they like the desk to do to put things right and details of what
they have done so far to try to resolve the complaint. Documentary
evidence, if any is also necessary, he said.
Customers’ complaints can be lodged at BoT desk in anyway,
including by submitting it by hand to the Office of the Secretary to the
Bank, posting to the office of the Secretary to the Bank through
P.O.Box 2939, Dar es salaam, mailing them to:
complaints-desk@bot.go.tz, through facsimile: +255 22 2234067 and by
calling on +255 22 2233265/ +255 22 2233246.
On complaints resolution process, the associate director said,
there are various stages to go through which include receipt of
complaint, acknowledgement of receipt, assessment of complaint,
resolving complaints and awarding remedies.
Receipt of Complaints
According to Ismail, upon receipt of complaint, it is assessed to
determine whether it falls within the remit of the Desk as prescribed by
the BOT Guidelines for Banking Consumers Complaints, 2015.
If the complaint is deemed ineligible, the complainant would be
notified immediately. If it falls within the desk’s remit, it would
continue to the next stage of the process.
Acknowledgement of receipt
Ismail says within four working days the complainant would be notified of receipt of his/her complaint by the Desk.
Assessment of the complaint
Upon receipt of the complaint and after establishing that it is
eligible, the Desk notifies the complainant’s bank banking institution
of the pending complaint and requires it to submit its response to the
desk within ten working days.
Where the banking institution fails to respond, the desk may send a
reminder of five working days. Where, after the reminder, it fails to
respond the Desk may conduct its own investigation and determine the
matter without the banking institution’s representation.
Resolving complaints
The Desk delivers its decision on the matter within 90 days from
the date of lodging the complaints with the Desk. In resolving the
complaint, the Desk is guided by provisions of applicable law, case law,
underlying agreement, industry practices and the TBA Code of Banking
Practice, 2014.
The Desk is not bound by the legal principles of handling
complaints such as rules of evidence but adheres to the general
principles of natural justice.
Remedies awarded
Ismal says the function performed by the Desk is different from
that performed by courts. The Desk is enjoined not to have regard to
technicality and legal form but resolve complaints using criteria that
would not usually be used by courts; for instance whether an explanation
for the conduct was not given when it should have been given.
A banking institution may be required to issue an apology, change
its practices, effect payment or compensation as the case may be.
When aggrieved by Desk decision
Director Ismail says either party may request the Desk to reconsider any of its decision.
However, each party also has the right to seek redress before a
competent court when it is not satisfied with the decision given by the
Desk.
The desk is described as a cost effective and efficient mechanism
to resolve complaints between respective banking institutions and their
customers.
According to the director, the Desk, which is fully funded by the
Bank, is intended to resolve complaints (small claims) whose monetary
value in respect of both the claim amount and remedy awarded does not
exceed Sh 15million.
According to Ismail, the objectives of establishing the desk
include resolving banking consumer complaints amicably, resolving
complaints in an informal, objective, expeditious and cost effective
manner, promoting public confidence and integrity of the banking
industry in the country and ensuring consistency in resolving consumer
complaints.
Ineligible Complaints
The BoT has also made it clear about the illegible complaints,
saying the desk would not consider a complaint which has been the
subject of legal proceedings before a Court or Tribunal, a complaint
whose complainant has not suffered any financial loss, material
inconvenience or distress and a complaint which would be more suitably
dealt with by a Court or under other dispute resolution arrangement.
Also the complaint would be deemed illegible if its resolution
would prejudice the rights of other parties who have not consented to
the resolution by the desk, if a complaint is vexatious or frivolous or
not in good faith, if the complaint was not first reported to the
banking institution concerned, if a complaint is lodged more than 14
days after a banking institution has delivered its decision or failed to
resolve the complaint or if a complaint is beyond the pecuniary
jurisdiction of the desk.
Eligible Complaints
According to the BoT, eligible complaints must be against a banking
institution which is either a member of the Tanzania Bankers
Association or regulated by the Bank and it must have been lodged within
14 days after a banking institution has delivered its decision or has
failed to respond.
Also a complaint would be considered eligible if it is in respect of an incident which occurred less than two) years ago.
According to BoT, resolution of banking consumers’ complaints is
free of charge as the Desk does not charge any fee whatsoever and the
languages are English and Kiswahili
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