If there was one theme running through banking complaints in 2025, it was fraud.
According to the National Financial Ombud Scheme’s 2025 annual report, the Banking Division spent much of the year dealing with complaints linked to criminals finding new ways to target consumers online. From phishing scams and account takeovers to unauthorised transactions, fraud-related complaints featured prominently throughout the year.
The trend emerged during a year of significant change for the NFO. In July 2025, the Banking and Credit divisions were merged into a single Banking and Credit Division under the leadership of ombud Nerosha Maseti.
Maseti said the move made sense because banking and credit complaints often overlap, involve many of the same players, and require similar investigations.
The merger took place during a year in which complaint volumes increased significantly.
The headline numbers do need to be viewed in context, though. The NFO’s 2024 figures cover only the period from March to December, while the 2025 figures cover a full calendar year. For that reason, the ombud uses monthly averages when assessing year-on-year trends.
Formal banking complaints increased from an average of 593 cases a month in 2024 to 743 a month in 2025 – an increase of about 25%.
Overall, the Banking Division registered 14 685 cases during 2025, up from 11 225 the previous year. Cases closed increased from 11 535 to 14 171.
The average turnaround time increased from 52 working days to 56.
Fraud dominates the complaints picture
The data suggests that as more people bank digitally, fraudsters are increasingly targeting those channels.
The Banking Division reported a steady increase in complaints involving unauthorised electronic transactions, account takeovers, and social-engineering scams. Many of these cases involved substantial financial losses.
According to the NFO, criminals continue to rely heavily on phishing, smishing, and vishing attacks. Increasingly, they are also spoofing banks’ telephone numbers to make scam calls appear genuine.
Consumers are being tricked into downloading malware through fake airline promotions, rewards programmes, WhatsApp links, and QR codes, giving fraudsters access to banking apps and personal information.
The Division also reported an increase in online investment scams, task-based scams promising easy money, card-not-present fraud, and even cases linked to kidnappings and hijackings where victims were forced to make financial transactions.
What are consumers complaining about?
The figures show just how much banking complaints have shifted towards digital channels.
Among current-account complaints, digital banking issues accounted for 65% of cases, while phishing-related complaints made up another 23%.
Mobile banking fraud, unauthorised electronic transactions, and account takeovers featured prominently throughout the year.
The NFO also dealt with complaints involving vehicle and asset finance, personal loans, card transactions, account closures, and FICA-related account restrictions.
In many cases, consumers were unhappy not only about the financial loss itself, but also about how banks handled the matter once it was reported.
The figures suggest that complaints are increasingly linked to digital banking channels rather than traditional branch-based banking services.
Where did the complaints come from?
The Banking Division’s caseload remained heavily concentrated among South Africa’s five largest banks.
Standard Bank accounted for the largest share of formal banking complaints in 2025 at 20.23%, followed by Absa (17.06%), Capitec (16.05%), Nedbank (15.47%), and First National Bank (14.88%).
Together, the five banks accounted for more than 80% of all formal banking complaints handled during the year.
That does not necessarily mean they performed worse than smaller competitors. Larger banks have larger customer bases and process far more transactions, which naturally results in higher complaint volumes.
The NFO’s figures also show that most complaints were ultimately decided in favour of banks. Across the Banking Division as a whole, only 17% of findings were made in favour of complainants, while 83% were decided in favour of participating banks.
Looking at individual institutions, African Bank had the highest proportion of findings in favour of complainants at 21%, followed by TymeBank (19%), Capitec (18%), and Standard Bank, Nedbank and Absa at 17% each. FNB had the lowest proportion among the major banks at 10%.
The figures provide an indication of where complaints are concentrated, but they do not necessarily reflect service quality. The report does not adjust for factors such as customer numbers, transaction volumes, or market share.
More than just fraud
Fraud dominated many of the complaints that reached the Banking Division during 2025, but it was not the only thing frustrating consumers.
The Banking Division reported growing dissatisfaction with banks’ communication and responsiveness, particularly when customers were trying to resolve fraud-related matters.
Consumers also complained about accounts being frozen or closed, often because of alleged fraud or FICA-related concerns. In some cases, supporting evidence was only considered after the matter had been escalated to the NFO.
The Division also dealt with accounting errors, including incorrect instalment calculations that resulted in underpayments and inflated account balances.
Vehicle finance disputes remained another source of complaints, particularly where consumers believed repossession processes had not been handled properly.
Money recovered for consumers
The Banking Division reported that consumers recovered approximately R53 million through formal banking complaints during 2025.
A further R22.3m was recovered through the premature complaint process, where banks are given an opportunity to resolve matters before they proceed to a formal investigation.
Together, the two processes helped consumers recover more than R75m.
The Banking Division found in favour of complainants in 17% of formal matters during 2025, compared with 21% the previous year.
Changes by banks
The annual report also points to several process changes implemented by banks following engagement with the NFO.
These included stronger notifications when banking details are registered on new devices, clearer fraud warnings to customers, and changes to the way debts sold to third parties are reflected on credit bureau records.
Maseti said one of the clearest trends emerging from 2025 was that banking complaints are increasingly linked to the risks associated with digital banking.
“As technology evolves, so too do the challenges faced by consumers and financial institutions,” she said.
