Maputo, 01 Sep (AIM) – The Bank of Mozambique, in its role as regulator of the national financial system, has ordered credit institutions and financial companies, including mobile wallet operators, to refund a total of 1.15 million US dollars to their customers, following improper commission and fee charges applied in the first half of this year.
The decision follows the analysis of the report on complaints from banking service users, published on the central bank’s official portal.
According to the document, between January and June, the Central Bank recorded 487 formal complaints out of a universe of around 32 million users in the national financial system.
The majority of customer grievances were related to bank loans, which accounted for 43 percent of all complaints. The primary cause involved disagreements over contract compliance and unilateral changes to payment schedules made by financial institutions.
Irregularities involving bank accounts ranked second, representing 24 percent of the complaints, with nearly nine out of ten cases concerning unauthorized or unexplained money debits from customers’ accounts and mobile wallets.
Meanwhile, technical failures at automated teller machines (ATMs) accounted for 13 percent of the complaints, dominated by instances where amounts were debited from accounts without the cash being physically dispensed.
In the commercial banking segment for large institutions (those with more than one million clients), the Commercial Investment Bank (BCI) recorded the highest number of complaints, with 156 records, followed by Millennium BIM, with 81 cases.
In response to these irregularities, the Bank of Mozambique held meetings with executive boards of the affected financial institutions and conducted on-site inspections, “assuring that it will maintain continuous supervision over the sector to safeguard consumer rights and interests.”
(AIM)
Zt/Am/
