BANK OF ISRAELOffice of the Spokesperson and Economic Information

June 1, 2014

Press Release

The Banking Supervision Department’s Handling of Public Enquiries and Complaints in 2013

The Banking Supervision Department is authorized to clarify the public’s complaints in all areas of banking corporation—bank and credit card company—activity. This function is integrated with other tools used by the Banking Supervision Department to promote fairness and transparency in bank–customer relations.

In 2013, the Banking Supervision Department handled 5,067 written enquiries and complaints, of which 1,549 were complaints related to a specific dispute between the customer and the bank, and 3,518 were requests to receive information on consumer rights, questions regarding Banking Supervision policy and various clarifications. In addition, the Department responded to 21,450 telephone enquiries.

In 2013, 22.2 percent of the complaints against banking corporations on which a position was taken by the Banking Supervision Department were found to be justified, similar to the proportion last year. The proportions in both years were lower than the proportion of justified complaints in the past.

The complaints handled in 2013 dealt primarily with means of payment (33 percent of complaints) and current accounts (24 percent of complaints).

Segmentation of the justified complaints by the factor in the failure indicates that the main reason for them was human error.

Due to the involvement of the Banking Supervision Department, the banking corporations paid their customers a total of about NIS 5.3 million, of which NIS 1.5 million were related to specific complaints, and the remainder were due to broad processes which were carried out based on information which arose from handling complaints.

The Banking Supervision Department rates the quality of banks’ dealing with their customers, as reflected in the enquiries and complaints with which it deals. In 2013, four banks were given an identical “good” rating by Banking Supervision (Leumi, Discount, Mizrahi-Tefahot, First International), and one bank was rated lower (Hapoalim)—“adequate”.

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Number of complaints for which handling was completed, and proportion of justified complaints, 2013 compared with 2012

2012 2013Number of complaints for which handling was completed 1,253 1,549Number of complaints on which a position was taken 898 1,131Number of complaints found to be justified 193 251Percentage of justified complaints out of those on which a positionwas taken

21.5% 22.2%

Proportion of complaints found to be justified, over the past decade

The overall ratings of the five largest banksThe rating is based on a weighted score of the four criteria detailed in the complete report.1

Bank2 2011 Rating 2012 Rating 2013 RatingFirst International Adequate Good Good

Discount Good Adequate GoodLeumi Good Good Good

Mizrahi-Tefahot Needs significant improvement

Adequate Good

Hapoalim Adequate Adequate Adequate

1 The rating of the banking corporations was based only on data received by the Banking Supervision Department following the handling of customer enquiries and complaints, and is provided as a service to the public. This rating does not provide an overall grade for a banking corporation regarding its range of activities, and thus must not be seen as any suggestion or recommendation.2 The order of appearance of the banks in the table is by their 2013 rating, and within the rating by Hebrew alphabetical order.

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The Banking Supervision Department continues to serve the public in all aspects of its relations with the banks and credit card companies. For information on how to submit bank-related complaints, contact the Public Enquiries Unit:

Internet site: www.boi.org.il/en/ConsumerInformation/Pages/Default.aspx

Tel: 02-655-2680

Fax: 02-666-9077

Address: PO Box 780 Jerusalem 91007

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