TD sees complaints rise 18% in 2016, ombudsman says
FINANCE Uptick reported from bank’s branches
• Toronto- Dominion Bank’s ombudsman opened up 18 per cent more complaint cases in 2016 compared to 2015, with a larger proportion originated from their bank branches.
Of the 749 new cases opened last year, 70 per cent came from the bank’s banking unit, up from 57 per cent in 2015, according to TD’s latest Ombudsman annual report.
“The majority of our case files originated from the Branch Banking network, with general service issues such as a lack of clarity of information or process errors comprising the majority of complaints,” said the 2016 report, released last week.
The bank’s i nsurance unit made up 18 per cent of the complaints, while the wealth management unit accounted for 10 per cent of complaints.
This comes a month after CBC News reports which included allegations of a highpressure sales environment at the bank.
Toronto- Dominion chief executive Bharat Masrani told shareholders at the bank’s annual meeting in March he does not believe that the lender has a “widespread problem” with aggressive sales tactics.
Masrani added that “a few hundred complaints related to their sales practices that were escalated beyond the initial channel” and the fewer than 100 that had compliance concerns were investi- gated and addressed.
“We take the concerns raised very seriously,” he told shareholders.
TD has also brought in an unnamed professional services firm to “assist the bank with our ongoing review of processes that we have,” Masrani said.
A TD spokeswoman said Monday that TD proactively encourages its customers to utilize its problem resolution process.
“Increasing c ustomer complaint volumes is an industry wide trend and one that our competitors have consistently also experienced,” the TD spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.
She added t hat t here wasn’t a single issue contributing to the increase, or any notable changes in trends related to banking- related complaints.
Overall, banking complaints are on the rise at the ombudsman’s offices in each of Canada’s biggest banks.
Royal Bank of Canada’s ombudsman opened up 817 cases last year, up from 625 in 2015, a 30- per- cent jump. Bank of Nova Scotia saw a 26- per- cent increase in 2016 to 795 new bankingrelated reviews from 630 in 2015, while the Bank of Montreal saw an 18.7- percent increase in 2016 to 215 new cases, compared to 181 in 2015. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce saw an increase of 7.6 per cent to 182 investigated complaints in the last fiscal year, up from 169 in 2015.
A subsequent CBC News report included allegations of a high- pressure sales environment from employees at the other Big Five banks as well.
In response to the news reports, published in March, t he Financial Consumer Agency of Canada moved up its review of the financial sector to April, during which it plans to focus on sales practices and whether Canada’s banks are followi ng guidelines regarding express consent and disclosure.
MAJORITY OF CASE FILES FROM THE BRANCH BANKING.