The Role of the Customer Ombudsman as an Element of the Customer Protection System in Banks
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18778/2391-6478.3.39.05Keywords:
consumer protection, responsible sales, misselling, Customer Ombudsman, banksAbstract
The purpose of the article. The purpose of this article is to answer the question: what is the role of the Customer Ombudsman in banks as a voluntary element of the customer protection system?
Methodology. In order to answer this question, in August 2021 a study was conducted using the CAWI method on a sample of 509 consumers. In addition, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with three Customer Ombudsmen in banks operating in Poland.
Results of the research. In order to guarantee and protect consumer rights, the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection operates in Poland. In addition, the Financial Ombudsman was appointed to provide special protection to customers of financial institutions and to support them in disputes with financial market entities. In addition to state institutions, there are also independent non-governmental organizations established to support and protect consumers.
Despite the supervision of the regulator and the activities of institutions protecting customers against unfair market practices, in the financial industry, including banks, you can still encounter phenomena that are unfair practices, including misselling. In the light of the indicated problem of the industry, some banks decided to take self-regulatory actions. A form of such activities is, among others, the appointment of a Customer Ombudsman at the bank, which is a unit whose task is to represent the client's interests in relations with the bank.
The results of the study indicate that, despite the potential and opportunities created by the function of the Customer Ombudsman in banks, it is not fully used, and the role of the Ombudsman is usually limited to reactive actions taken in response to irregularities that have already taken place and have not been reviewed by other units.
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Ministerstwo Edukacji i Nauki
Grant numbers KZiF/S21:1.57
