Financial Complaints Rise 1.9% Year-on-Year in First Half of This Year

57,359 Financial Complaints Filed in First Half
General Complaints Up 19.5%
Dispute-Related Complaints Down 17.6%

In the first half of this year, the number of financial complaints filed increased by 1.9% compared to the same period last year. While general complaints rose, dispute-related complaints decreased.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on September 22, the number of financial complaints received in the first half of this year was 57,359, representing a 1.9% increase (1,084 cases) from the same period last year.

General complaints totaled 38,290, up 19.5% (5,169 cases) year-on-year, while dispute-related complaints amounted to 19,069, down 17.6% (a decrease of 4,085 cases) compared to the same period last year.

Looking more closely at financial complaints: insurance-related complaints increased by 7.2% (+1,883 cases), small business and low-income sector complaints rose by 17.8% (+2,106 cases), and financial investment complaints grew by 25.0% (+1,026 cases). In contrast, complaints related to banks declined by 27.9% (a decrease of 3,931 cases). This is interpreted as a base effect following last year's surge in complaints regarding Hong Kong H Index-based ELS products.

By sector, the share of complaints was as follows: insurance 49% (non-life insurance 37%, life insurance 12%), small business and low-income sector 24%, banks 18%, and financial investment 9%.

For dispute-related complaints, financial investment saw an increase of 48.1% (+515 cases), small business and low-income sector rose by 41.4% (+322 cases), and insurance increased by 0.9% (+150 cases). On the other hand, bank-related dispute complaints fell by 93.3% (a decrease of 5,072 cases).

The sectoral share of dispute-related complaints was: insurance 84% (non-life insurance 71%, life insurance 13%), financial investment 8%, small business and low-income sector 6%, and banks 2%.

The number of complaints processed in the first half of the year increased to 59,463, up 19.1% (+9,522 cases) from the same period last year (49,941 cases), thanks to improved processing efficiency. General complaints processed totaled 37,834, up 12.9% (+4,331 cases) year-on-year, while dispute-related complaints processed reached 21,629, an increase of 31.6% (+5,191 cases) compared to the same period last year.

The Financial Supervisory Service stated, "We will establish a more efficient complaint processing system through system upgrades and strengthen communication with financial companies to address vulnerabilities."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.