The Bank of Tanzania (BOT) Complaint Resolution Desk is about to introduce its website specifically for describing objectives and activities pertaining to the Desk as indicated in a press release by the Central Bank.
A Complaint Resolution Desk with a new dispute settlement mechanism has been established on 1st April 2015 by BOT to have transparency and better relations between consumers, stakeholders and bankers.
The service is absolutely free of charge and is completely funded by BOT.
BOT advises customers to first exhaust the internal bank complaint resolution mechanism before taking the complaint to the Desk.
The customer will be notified about the receipt of his complaint at the desk within 4 days of lodging the complaint and will be updated all through the process about the complaint resolution status.
The Desk would liaise with the banking institution related to the complaint and deliver its decision on the matter within 90 days from the date of lodging the complaint with the Desk.
According to Mr. Mustafa Ismail, BOT Litigation and Investigation Department Associate Director the Complaint Resolution Desk is a cost effective and efficient mechanism to have improved complaint resolution mechanism between banks and its customers.
The Desk would only resolve small complaints with monetary value less than TZS 15 million including the claim and the remedy award money.
Mr. Lila Mkila, BOT Deputy Governor said in a stakeholders workshop in Dar Es Salaam that the establishment of this complaint resolution mechanism desk is the first step towards better banking services to all the banking customers in Tanzania.
Earlier such complaints were left for the courts or banks internal mechanism to solve.
Tanzania Bankers Association (TBA) members adopted the code of banking practice 2014 in December last year that recognized the authorization of the Desk to resolve consumer complaints.
