The number of complaints submitted to the Office of the Financial Ombudsman in 2023 rose to the highest point since its establishment, new Financial Ombudswoman Valentina Georgiadou said on Friday.

Furthermore, speaking to a press conference over the work of the Office, Finance Minister Makis Keravnos said he was proud as “following measures by the Ministry and decisions by the Government, we have a steady framework and a revamped Financial Ombudsman Office for the management of non-performing loans.”

Keravnos recalled the latest decisions to improve the Office’s governance and broaden its competencies which enabled the Office of the Ombudsman “to play a role in the joint effort for sustainable growth while placing value to the consumer protection.”

Although it is early to evaluate the new framework, he added, this has been positively reviewed by rating agencies and the European Commission.

“We remain focused in monitoring the new framework which should be left to operate and to yield the desired results, that is, reaching viable solutions for deleveraging of accumulated debt by households and corporations alike,” the Minister stressed.

Complains soar by 20% in 2023

According to Geogriadou, in 2023 a total of 1,121 complaints have been submitted to the Office, up by an annual 20% which is the highest number ever submitted since the Office’s inception.

The Ombudswoman pointed out that the number of complains has been rising steadily since 2018, adding that “this trend will continue due to socioeconomic, technological and political developments.”

According to Georgiadou, the highest number of complaints was recorded in Cyprus Investment Firms (CIFs), registering an annual increase of 83% to 556 compared with 304 in 2022. “The sector presents traditionally high number of complaints, as it concerns investments which entail high risk and may not be appropriate for the consumer,” she explained.

Complaints, the Ombudswoman added, are mainly associated with, inter alia, disinformation, bad practices and technical problems.

Moreover, she added that the number of complaints filed against banks and credit acquiring companies (CACs) declined by 9% and 13% respectively to 242 and 297.

The reduction of complaints against banks and CACs, she said, was driven by the consultations over the increased competencies for the Ombudsman and the government-funded mortgage-to-rent scheme which protects non-performing home owners from losing their homes.

The complaints in this sector are attributed to excessive charges, excessive penalty clauses in loan contracts, disputes over guarantors and the termination of credit facilities.

Regarding the binding nature of the Ombudsman’s decisions, Georgiadou said that in the period of 2015 to 2023 65.5% of the Office’s decisions has been accepted by the consumers whereas a share of the decisions accepted by financial companies amounted to only 25%.