By Babajide Komolafe

Another reason why the Complaint Management Framework for Capital Market designed and introduced by SEC may not work becomes apparent when it is compared with that of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

In a circular directing all banks and financial institutions to expand their ATM Help Desk to handle all consumer complaints, the CBN among other things stated, “The consumer help desk should be managed by an officer not below the grade of Assistant General Manager (AGM) and/or senior banking officer of considerable years of experience in banking at the head offices and branches respectively”

SEC on its part     directed that, “The (Complaints Management) policy should be defined and endorsed by the company’s/firm’s senior management, who should also be responsible for its implementation and for monitoring compliance. The above comparism reveals another major gap in the complaint management framework of SEC. It did not specify or indicate who or the grade of  officer that should directly manage complaints.

As indicated in previous edition, the Complaint Management framework of SEC does not indicate a recognition of the poor attitude of capital market operators to customers’ complaint, and neither is it strong enough to correct this attitude. That is the fundamental difference between the directive of CBN and that of SEC on complaint management.

The CBN recognises that banks and other financial institutions have the tendency to treat customers’ complaint with levity. It also recognises the need for a strong regulatory response to correct this attitude. This explains the strictness and the compelling nature of its directive on customers’ complaint. The directive is so worded and designed to compel banks to comply by taking customers’ complaint seriously.

That is why the apex bank went beyond just directing banks to set up customers’ complaints desk, to also specify who should manage the desk. Why did SEC not specify who should manage the customers’ complain policies of capital market operators? Why just leave that decision at the mercy and leisure of the management? The commission needs to provide answers to these questions.

Further there is need for the Commission to do a holistic review of the Framework, based on comparism with that of the CBN and that of other capital market regulators around the world. The present framework, though a good attempt, is not strong enough to compel capital market operators to  change their attitude to  customers’ complaints.