| The Banking Supervision Department has posted on the Bank of Israel website a comprehensive survey of its activity for the enhancement of fairness in bank–customer relations and the protection of bank customers in various ways: handling of enquiries and complaints from the public, legislation and regulation, dealing with writers of bad checks, treatment of bank fees and commissions, etc. |
| Below are main findings from the survey on the handling of complaints and enquiries from the public: |
| 1 |
In 2008, the Banking Supervision Department dealt with 8,534 enquiries and complaints in writing—4,156 complaints and 4,378 requests for information and miscellaneous enquiries. The number of written enquiries and complaints was 43 percent greater in 2008 than in 2007, mainly due to enquiries relating to Heftsiba (1,140 complaints), requests for information about bank fees and commissions, and a general upturn in enquiries by electronic mail, reflecting the public’s growing exposure to the Bank of Israel web site. |
| 2 |
Below are data about the share of justified complaints in various contexts[1]: |
| a. |
The proportion of complaints that were found justified among all complaints on which the Department took a stance in 2008 was 25.6 percent, much as in previous years. |
| b. |
The data on the five large banks show that in 2008, much as in 2007, the highest rate of complaints concerned Israel Discount Bank (38.2 percent in 2008 as against 33 percent in 2007) and the lowest rate concerned Bank Leumi (16.3 percent and 15.5 percent in the respective years). |
| c. |
The share of justified complaints relating to housing loans was greater than the share of justified complaints on other topics: among banks that issued housing loans, 36.2 percent of total complaints on which the Department took a stance in 2008 were found justify or partly justified. |
| d. |
In 2008, as in 2007, the highest share of justified complaints concerned Israel Discount Mortgage Bank (56.1 percent in 2008 as against 73.4 percent in 2007) and the lowest share concerned Leumi Mortgage Bank (8.5 and 20.7 in the respective years). |
| e. |
The lowest share of justified complaints in 2008, as in 2007, concerned credit-card companies––6.6 percent. In 2008, the proportion of justified complaints was 7.7 percent concerning Isracard (16.7 percent in 2007) and 7 percent concerning Leumi Card (6.9 percent in 2007). ICC had the lowest share of justified complaints––2.9 percent (3.4 percent in 2007). |
| 3 |
The banks paid out NIS 3 million in compensation to their customers per instruction of the Banking Supervision Department pursuant to decisions about complaints from the public. |
| 4 |
During the review year, the Department handled 1,140 complaints against banks in regard to the Heftsiba affair. In the aftermath of decisions on these complaints, homebuyers were awarded NIS 244 million in relief. |
| 5 |
The full report also provides comprehensive reportage about the Banking Supervision Department’s other activities during the review year: reform of bank fees, legislation and regulation in consumer-related matters, and dealing with writers of bad checks. |
| The Banking Supervision Department maintains a section on the Bank of Israel website on banking consumerism, with information on bank-customer relations that may be immensely useful to the public in its dealings with the banks. |
| Bank customers are welcome to contact the Public Enquiries Unit of the Banking Supervision Department in any matter related to bank–customer relations (Tel. 1212-200680, fax 9722-6669077, POB 780, 91007 Jerusalem, or at pniyotz@boi.gov.il). Bank customers are welcome to contact the office that deals with writers of bad checks in order to present enquiries about the restriction of accounts and customers (Tel. 1212-200427). |