Actions taken by the National Financial Ombud (NFO) saw more than R328-million paid to disgruntled consumers in the 2024 financial year for unfair practices.

The NFO released its first Annual Report tracking complaints, financial issues and disputes from consumers about financial institutions.

The entity is a merger of the ombudsman for banking services, the credit ombudsman and the ombudsman for long-term and short-term insurance.

Over 20 000 cases were closed in four divisions including non-life and life insurance, banking and credit with most of the complaints registered in the motoring sector.

Reana Steyn, NFO Chief Executive Officer says, “R328 million. That’s how much the NFO in 10 months put back into the pockets of consumers. Those are the amounts that were paid back, accounts rectified, policies, paid out, things corrected, repaired, built, to the value of R328,5 million. So that, I think we are very proud of. I think to make it clear, the report is for the 10 months of last year. We did it for that period from March 1 to December 31. It’s not even for a 12-month period.”