Madrid2024 is set to be a record year in terms of the claims that the Bank of Spain receives from customers of financial institutions. Only during the first six months of the year, 38,619 files have already been opened and the supervisory body estimates that a range of between 55,000 and 60,000 files can be reached, as pointed out by the director who oversees the conduct of the entities, Fernando Tejada, in an informative meeting this Wednesday. The forecast has been announced as part of the publication of the Report of Claims corresponding to the 2023 financial year.
Regarding 2023, the Bank of Spain opened a total of 33,191 files, a figure that places the body’s activity in terms of supervising the conduct of entities at levels similar to those of previous years (34,146 files in 2022 and 34,330 files in 2021). The year in which the most claims were received was 2017, when the body now chaired by José Luís Escrivá opened more than 40,000 files.
What explains the current rise in claims that the Bank of Spain is registering are the recent judgments linked to mortgage expenses. “Many of these claims come from the pronouncements of the Supreme Court and the preliminary questions resolved by the Court of Justice of the European Union on the invalidity of abusive mortgage clauses,” the report states.
The problem, however, with many of these claims is that they usually end in “frustration” for the customer who sends the complaint, the Bank of Spain acknowledges. The underlying reason is that the supervisory body does not have powers to resolve cases that transcend the banking sphere and these cases include those claims linked to mortgages in which the client requests the nullity of some clauses because considers them “abusive”. These complaints, the Bank of Spain reminds, must be channeled through the courts. In fact, the Bank of Spain reminds us that there are specialized courts in this type of case. During 2023, 61% of the claims received by the body were unsuccessful, for various reasons. Among those that were admitted, we rectified the entities in 80% of the cases.
“It’s a little frustrating that people come to the Bank of Spain to look for something that we can’t satisfy,” said Alberto Ríos, director general of Financial Conduct and Banknotes. “The message we want to convey to customers, also to associations, is that they are aware of what the scope of competition is,” he reiterated. On the other hand, where the Bank of Spain could act is in those cases where a customer complains because he believes he has not received all the information regarding a mortgage loan.
During 2023 CaixaBank and BBVA, the two entities with the most weight in retail banking, were the entities that accumulated the most complaints to the supervisory body
