25/03/2025
There were 374 complaints submitted to Finantsinspektsioon last year about financial services, down from 389 in the previous year. The majority of the complaints concerned payment and credit services.
There were more complaints about payment and credit services concerning fraud than in previous years, as 35 notifications of possible fraud were given, which was a third more than a year previously. There were also problems with the level of service fees, processing payments, closing accounts, the conditions of services, and offers and adverts. The number of complaints was more or less the same as it was in 2023.
Finantsinspektsioon considers the complaints when planning its work, and where necessary draws the attention of market participants to problems or bad habits and can issue advisory guidelines. Finantsinspektsioon updated its advisory guideline on processing client complaints in autumn 2024 to direct companies operating under its supervision to process complaints transparently, effectively and systematically. Information received in such processes can be useful for improving services and products, and for raising the quality of service.
If there is a misunderstanding or dissatisfaction about the activities of a provider of financial services, the first reaction should be to contact the service provider directly. The nature of the problem and possible solutions to it can be discussed over the telephone, but there will probably be greater clarity from contacting the financial institution in writing. If the service provider is unable to help resolve the problem or does not give a sufficient explanation, independent advice and explanations are available by contacting Finantsinspektsioon.
Finantsinspektsioon can use the complaint to make a supervisory enquiry of the financial institution to ask for explanations and to test whether it is acting in full compliance with the law. It can also suggest where the complainant should turn to resolve the dispute, or who the complaint should be addressed to. Finantsinspektsioon has no authority to resolve consumer complaints, and so it cannot give assessments about the legality of the activities of subjects of supervision or resolve the content of disputes.
It would only be able to handle individual complaints if there were a financial ombudsman operating at Finantsinspektsioon. Finantsinspektsioon has been saying for years that there needs to be a financial ombudsman that could resolve disputes between consumers and companies operating in the financial sector, and it has initiated the legislation for it too. The form for submitting complaints can be found on the Finantsinspektsioon website.