The Banking and Financial Ombudsman (ABF): four new panels in Bari, Bologna, Palermo and Turin are operational and supplementing the panels in Rome, Milan and Naples

As of 20 December 2016, the Banking and Financial Ombudsman (ABF), the out-of-court dispute resolution system for customers of banking and financial services, began operations in its four new panels in Bari, Bologna, Palermo and Turin.

The creation of the new panels, which supplement the existing panels in Milan, Naples and Rome, will increase the ABF’s capabilities and timeliness in responding to the needs of customers, thereby providing them greater protection.

On 20 December 2016 the panel chairs were appointed as were the panel members designated by the Bank of Italy together with the members designated by the associations representing customers and intermediaries.

The geographical jurisdiction of the panels in Rome, Milan and Naples has been modified.

The ABF is a means of alternative dispute resolution that customers may easily access without professional assistance and at a low cost (it costs €20 to file a complaint, refundable in the event the ABF decides in favour of the complainant) in order to obtain a decision in a short amount of time. The proceedings are entirely written: customers need only complete the form available on the ABF website.

Since of the start of 2016 nearly 20,000 complaints have been submitted. More than 70 per cent of the complaints were basically decided in the customer’s favour (includes both ABF decisions in favour of the customer and those settled before the ABF’s decision). In 2015, approximately €10 million were awarded to customers, not counting those cases that were settled after a complaint was submitted to the ABF.

For further information, please consult www.arbitrobancariofinanziario.it