The Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) has released its annual report detailing the main issues related to consumer claims received and handled by the bank, as well as measures adopted to address these concerns. The report focuses on BCRA's role in financial consumer protection under the Argentine financial system's legal framework.
The report is divided into three chapters. The first chapter outlines the main claims received and processed by BCRA through various channels, comparing them with previous periods to determine whether issues persist or have been resolved. The second chapter categorizes claims reported by financial institutions based on product and topic, providing monitoring indicators such as claim levels and resolutions favorable to claimants. The final chapter discusses actions taken by BCRA concerning identified problems and their impact on consumers.
Key findings from the report indicate that 66% of claims submitted by financial consumers were resolved in favor of the complainants. Additionally, there was a notable increase in financial consumers engaging with the system, rising to 128,659,527 from 100,070,982 in December 2023. These transactions were conducted through various channels: 50% via financial institutions, 35% through payment service providers offering e-wallet services, 11% via credit card companies, and 4% through other non-financial credit providers.
The overall claim indicator remained low at 0.55%, indicating fewer than one claim per hundred consumers conducting transactions with institutions. In December 2024 alone, a total of 703.2 thousand claims were submitted within the regulated system: 61.3% against financial institutions, 30.7% against payment service providers, 7.7% against credit card companies, and a minimal percentage against other credit providers.
BCRA assists consumers directly through its website and social media presence on X (@BCRAUsuarios). In 2024, they handled over thirteen thousand procedures including queries and complaints. Systemic analysis is used to identify root causes of issues for prompt resolution and prevention of recurrence.
Cyber incident claims are also addressed separately within this framework with common inquiries involving databases, account management issues such as opening foreign currency accounts or transfer delays, credit card purchase limits adjustments or cancellations requests; loan-related queries include scoring for credit granting.
The Frequently Asked Questions section on BCRA's website saw over one million views for top questions while posts addressing consumer concerns about e-wallets' security features had significant engagement online.
In conclusion for 2024 BCRA emphasized digital transformation enhancing speed security transparency across payment systems improving both store-consumer experiences alike
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