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The Banking and Financial Ombudsman

The Banking and Financial Ombudsman is a system for the settlement of disputes between customers and banks and financial intermediaries. Compared with recourse to the courts, the system is faster and cheaper.

If customers believe an intermediary's conduct has been improper or opaque, they must start by complaining to the intermediary's own complaints department, which must answer within 30 days.
If customers deem the intermediary's answer not to be satisfactory, they may appeal to the Banking and Financial Ombudsman, which will give an answer within a few months.

The Banking and Financial Ombudsman decides on disputes involving banking and financial transactions and services of up to €100,000. Its decisions are not binding as are those of the courts, but intermediaries normally accept them, not least because non-compliance is made public.

If customers are not satisfied by the Banking and Financial Ombudsman's decision, they can apply to the courts.

Applications to the Banking and Financial Ombudsman are made using a form that is available on its website (www.arbitrobancariofinanziario.it) and at all the branches of the Bank of Italy open to the public.

The Banking and Financial Ombudsman was set up pursuant to the Consolidated Law on Banking (Article 128-bis, introduced by Law 262/2005 on savings). This provision made it obligatory for banks and financial intermediaries to participate in systems for the out-of-court resolution of disputes with customers.

The resolution adopted by the Interministerial Committee for Credit and Savings on 29 July 2008 established the criteria for performing dispute resolution procedures and entrusted the Bank of Italy with the organization and working of the systems.

The Bank of Italy has adopted the implementing provisions of the Credit Committee resolution published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale of 24 June 2009.

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