KUALA LUMPUR: Some 3,200 complaints have been received by the Financial Markets Ombudsman Service since its inception a year ago, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
Of the total, 2,268 complaints were resolved through mediation and adjudication, the Finance Ministry said.
It added that each complaint is handled on a case-by-case basis.
Complaints related to health insurance products meanwhile reached 112 as of the third quarter of last year, accounting for 3.4% of the total complaints received.
Here, 83 complaints or 74% of cases involving health insurance products were resolved.
This resulted in savings of about RM1,245,000 compared to bringing the case to court.
“Bank Negara Malaysia has also set that financial institutions must inform their users of the right to present complaints through alternative mediums, including the FMOS, before any possibility of initiating legal action.
“These complaints can be lodged once consumers receive a final decision from the banks on their issues,” it said in a written reply on Friday (Jan 23).
Explaining further, the ministry said the FMOS serves as a conflict-resolution centre for consumers and financial investors nationwide.
“It was formed to improve the synergy of financial and investment conflict resolution operations with the aim of creating a fair, accessible, smooth and free process for consumers,” said the ministry.
In stressing its commitment to ensuring the FMOS functions in an independent, fair and effective manner to protect consumers, the ministry noted that the majority of FMOS board members are independent of any relations with companies in the banking industry.
“Adjudicators are also independent and have no interest within the finance industry,” it said.
It was in response to a question by William Leong Jee Keen (PH-Selayang), who asked about the number and types of cases received by the FMOS last year and its resolution rate.
He also asked about the number of cases related to health insurance products.
