For South African financial services firms, complaints management is both a customer-service function and a compliance obligation. Regulators expect firms to treat customers fairly, handle complaints consistently and be able to show evidence that they did.
Why are complaints a compliance matter in financial services?
The Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) outcomes expect firms to deal with complaints and queries fairly and without unnecessary delay. In particular, Outcome 6 says customers should face no unreasonable barriers to making a claim or a complaint. As a result, losing, delaying or inconsistently handling a complaint is a service failure and a potential conduct risk.
In addition, insurers have a specific rule. Rule 18 of the Policyholder Protection Rules requires a complaints management framework: complaints recorded, categorised and analysed, with regular reports to senior management and the board.
What do regulators and ombuds typically want to see?
- A consistent, documented complaints process
- Evidence that you recorded and acknowledged each complaint
- Timelines that you set and met
- A clear outcome and the reasoning behind it
- Analysis of complaint trends and what you did about them
What goes wrong when complaints live in email?
- Complaints sit in individual mailboxes, so they're hard to find
- Staff have to assemble evidence by hand whenever someone asks for it
- Staff turnover also takes context with it
- Management can't see trends until they're already a problem
What does good look like?
- Every complaint gets one record and a reference number
- The system sets an owner and a deadline automatically
- All communication stays on the complaint record
- Reports show volumes, ageing and root causes
- You can produce an audit trail in minutes, not days
How can you test your readiness?
For example, imagine an ombud or regulator asks for the full history of one complaint, plus a summary of all complaints from the last quarter. How long would it take your team, and how confident would you be in the answer?
Frequently asked questions
Treating Customers Fairly is the FSCA's outcomes-based approach to conduct. It sets six fairness outcomes, including that customers face no unreasonable barriers to submitting claims or making complaints.
Yes. Regulators expect firms to have a documented, consistent process. However, requirements differ by licence category, so check yours with your compliance officer.
The complaint, the date received, who handled it, every communication, the outcome and the reason for the outcome.
Related reading: Old Mutual South Africa: enterprise mailbox operations · Old Mutual Namibia: from managing mailboxes to managing performance · 5 complaints management KPIs to track
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