The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has released the highly anticipated Complaints Management Industry Review Report 2025, which presents the findings of research conducted by the FSCA to assess the complaints management practices of financial institutions in South Africa. As part of its mandate under Section 57 of the Financial Sector Regulation Act, the FSCA aims to protect financial customers by ensuring fair treatment from financial institutions. The research sought to determine whether these institutions have effective complaints management frameworks, how well they meet customer needs, and if they promote fair customer outcomes. The research focused on licensed Category I financial service providers, retirement funds and retirement fund administrators. It assessed the effectiveness, timeliness and accessibility of their complaints handling processes. The review report outlines the findings and offers recommendations for financial institutions to improve their complaints management processes.
The report investigated vital issues that all FSPs need to address, these include and are not limited to an effective complaint management process, not just on paper but implemented and managed properly, fair customer treatment and the process used to ensure fairness.
The research was conducted in two phases, and this report presents the findings from both phases, namely the industry review (phase 1) and the consumer survey (phase 2). Phase 1 was conducted between March and December 2022 and involved a comprehensive review of complaints handling processes across Category I FSPs, retirement funds and retirement fund administrators. The evaluation focused on the principles and standards of effectiveness, accessibility and timeliness. It was established that 75% of FSPs had no complaints and those that had complaints were in smaller FSPs (less than 10 clients). Complaints revolved around product performance, information provided, claims handling and other administrative issues. It was also established that these FSPs had inadequate documentation, staff training and monitoring systems. Complaints were on average resolved within a month and frequently handled by lower-level staff. In light of this, it is important for FSPs to ensure that they have the procedures in place to handle these administrative issues and provide timeous feedback. As much as the findings found that FSPs do have a complaints management policy in place, there is room for improvement.
Phase 2 was conducted between August and September 2023, and involved an online survey aimed at assessing financial consumers’ experiences with lodging complaints at their respective financial institutions, i.e., Category I FSPs, retirement funds and retirement fund administrators. Only 8% of consumers had lodged complaints, which was around processes, complaints resolution and irregular updates or reasons for delays. This demonstrates a need for FSPs to improve communication, resolve complaints timeously and enhance customer experience.
The FSCA also consulted with the two statutory ombuds, the Office of the Pension Funds Adjudicator (OPFA) and the FAIS Ombud and analysed their annual reports to gain deeper insights into consumer grievances and resolution trends.
The findings of this report urged financial institutions to strengthen their complaints management processes. It emphasised the need for documented systems to receive, record, report and resolve consumer complaints effectively. The FSCA further recommended that the financial institutions must seek customer feedback to refine their processes and ensure their complaints management frameworks are suited to their business complexity and size.
The key takeaways for FSPs are to document and formalise complaints processes, regularly train staff and prepare for the COFI Bill. The report benefits FSPs as it provides comprehensive insights and benchmarks across the industry allowing FSPs to assess the effectiveness, accessibility and timeliness of their own complaints management systems as well as allowing the FSPs to compare their internal processes and deliverables against the industry standards. The report will assist FSP’s complaints management frameworks with Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) principles to align the regulatory requirements in respect of the COFI Bill.