2022 Report on Protection of Financial Services Users: Improvement in the Favorable Resolution of Claims

The rate of claims by financial services users that were favorably resolved improved, reaching 82% in December 2022, against 78% in December 2021, in accordance with the Report on Protection of Financial Services Users. This report gathers relevant information on the claims against institutions in the financial system as well as on the main measures adopted by the BCRA.

According to this report, during such period the number of financial services users that carried out transactions in the financial system increased to 62,570,092 (against 61,147,260 in 2021). To make this estimate, a person that uses services or products in several institutions is considered as one user in each institution. Out of this total, 80% of financial services users carried out transactions through financial institutions, 11% through credit/purchase card issuing companies (empresas emisoras de tarjetas de crédito y/o de compra, EETCs), and 9% through other non-financial credit providers (otros proveedores no financieros de crédito, OPNFCs). These figures remained stable in comparison to 2021.

On a consolidated basis, the claim indicator remained stable at a low of 0.68% in 2022 (vs. 0.54% in 2021), that is, fewer than one claim every 100 users carrying out transactions with institutions.

During December 2022, 428.4 thousand claims were submitted across the regulated financial system, as follows: 87% against financial institutions, 9% against EETCs, and 4% against OPNFCs.

The information contained in the report is gathered by the BCRA as part of the monitoring and control of regulated institutions (financial institutions, EETCs, foreign exchange traders, non-financial credit providers and financial trusts) in order to protect users, promote best practices and reduce inequality between sellers/providers of services and purchasers/acquirers.

Within this framework, it is worth noting that as from March 2023 payment service providers that offer payment accounts (proveedores de servicios de pago que ofrecen cuentas de pago, PSPCPs) and payment service providers fulfilling initiation functions (proveedores de servicios de pago que cumplen la función de iniciación, PSIs) and providing digital wallet services are subject to the regulation on financial services user protection.

In addition to monitoring institutions, the BCRA directly assists financial services users through the channels available at this website and the BCRA’s Twitter account: @BCRAUsuarios. In 2022, the number of procedures—queries, claims, and complaints—initiated was 39,391 (30,643 through web forms and 8,748 through comments on Twitter).

Other highlights of the report are the following:

• Regarding financial institutions, there were 374.1 thousand claims in December 2022 against 267.8 thousand in December 2021, reflecting a 40% increase. The claims submitted during 2022 show a variation of 31% against 2021.

• As for EETCs, there were 36.9 thousand claims in December 2022 against 43.9 thousand in December 2021, showing a 16% decrease. The claims submitted during 2022 show an increase of 3% against 2021.

• As regards OPNFCs, there were 17.4 thousand claims in December 2022 against 15.4 thousand in December 2021, evidencing an increase of 13%. The average claims submitted during 2022 show an increase of 20% against the average of 2021.

• Eighty-eight percent of the claims reported during December 2022 were related to the following products: credit cards (43%); ATMs, self-service terminals and other electronic channels (32%); and deposit accounts (13%).

• Based on the problems informed by financial services users, the BCRA adopted several measures, including regulatory changes such as enhanced security features for digital wallets and new measures to streamline the inclusion of people with disabilities. The BCRA also provided information on the current regulations and issued warnings and recommendations on the use of products and on third-party relationships outside the scope of the regulated financial system.

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April 1, 2023