The Namibian Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (NAMFISA) says it has recovered N$2.2 million on behalf of consumers from January 2023 to March 2023.
This comes after the financial sector regulator received complaints from consumers, mainly about the long- and short-term insurance industries, micro-lending and credit agreements industry.
“The complaints were largely attributed to the delays in the non-payment of pension benefit claims, repudiation of funeral claims, non-cancellation of contracts, and delays in payment of death and refunds,” NAMFISA’s Manager of Corporate Communications and Consumer Education Victoria Muranda said.
Muranda further explained that the authority’s interventions have allowed for an increase in the amount recovered by N$1,769,633 from N$467,530 in the last quarter to N$2,237,163.
“The highest amount totaling N$1,422,369.74 was recovered from the pension funds industry, followed by N$742,558.00 from the long-term insurance industry, N$62,089.67 from the short-term insurance industry, N$10,145.32 from the micro-lending industry and credit agreement industry.”
Muranda mentioned that NAMFISA engages regulated entities regularly during industry forums to encourage timely and amicable resolutions of complaints.
“Consumer protection is key to our operations, and therefore I encourage consumers to know their rights and responsibilities as users of financial service products,” NAMFISA’s Chief Executive Officer Kenneth Matomola said.
Matomola added that NAMFISA has a dedicated Consumer Complaints Department that investigates complaints on behalf of consumers of non-bank financial services and products at no cost to the consumer.
During the resolution of complaints, the Authority identifies conduct issues and root causes in complaints which are used to determine or influence focus areas for consumer education and supervisory activities.
