Banks should minimise customer conflicts - New Financial Ombudsman

Ravi Ladduwahetty

Sri Lanka?s new Financial Ombudsman ,Ubhayasekera Mapa yesterday stressed the role the banks and other financial institutions could play in creating awareness among clients, which, he said, would assist in the process of conflict resolution.

Banks and financial institutions should not take advantage of signed documents of clients but should also make them fully aware of their responsibilities and duties coming into a state of complacency, Mapa told the Daily News.

Quoting an example, he said that banks and other lending institutions should not leave room for customers to say that that they did not know that the interest was subsequently increasing at the time that they took the loans.

Mapa, a legal personality and Judge, was a former Chief Magistrate in Kandy from 1980 -1982 when he was summoned to be District Judge Matale but instead took up the appointment as Public Trustee in 1982 and held that position till 1999, making him the longest serving Public Trustee in Sri Lanka.

Mapa was also a former Sri Lankan envoy to Myanmar. The Banks Association of Sri Lanka appointed him as the Financial Ombudsman, where he succeeded Sri Lanka?s first Financial Ombudsman Walter Ladduwahetty, whose term expired last month.

He also said banks reserve the right to provide the previous rates of interest at the time of signing the agreements and they should give customers sufficiently aware of their liabilities.

He said his aim was to win the confidence of the customer while also maintaining his independence from banks. My job will be playing the role of the fair judicial officer where conflict resolution will be done without fear or favour, he said.

His plan will be to put the office of the Financial Ombudsman in firm footing where aggrieved parties could refer their grievances in non-formal litigation in this aspect of conflict resolution.

He said another aspect that the banks could do well is to have negotiations and discussions with the clients prior to entering them into the crib lists.

He said he has just started his assignment and within the next three months, he will be in a position to mention areas where the banks should be alerted. ?There will be certain areas I can pin point even now but it is too early to crystallise anything,? he added.