Arbiter delivered nearly 200 decisions regarding complaints against financial services providers in 2025

The Office of the Arbiter for Financial Services delivered close to 200 decisions on complaints against financial services providers in 2025 according to its annual report.

The arbiter deals with complaints filed by eligible customers against financial services providers. The office offers two routes for customers seeking redress from a financial services provider - an informal route for enquiries and minor cases, and the formal complaints procedure.

In terms of formal complaints, 350 were accepted in 2025, a 39 per cent increase over 2024.

148 of these complaints dealt with the banking and payments sector, 112 with the insurance sector, 89 per cent were over the investments sector and 1 for corporate services. 152 of the complaints originated from Malta, while 198 came from abroad.

The arbiter’s report highlights that 131 of these cases were concluded through mediation, settlement or withdrawal, being resolved prior to adjudication.

The arbiter delivered 192 final decisions. 150 of the complaints were not upheld, 37 were partially upheld and 5 were upheld in full, the data shows.

Across 39 decisions, the total compensation awarded was €253,000, with the amount awarded ranging from €250 to €27,000.

Arbiter Alfred Mifsud, in the annual report, said that the increase in decided cases (192 being significantly more than 94 in the previous year), can be explained by two reasons. Firstly that 65 cases against a service provider in liquidation were closed and referred to pursue the liquidation process. Secondly, “The remaining 127 decisions reflect both the increase in complaints throughput and the increasing efficiency of the decision process.”

The arbiter said that complaints related to fraud scams continue to dominate. These fall into two categories: Complaints by residents against local banks seeking compensation for what they consider unauthorised payments when they press fraudulent links contained in SMS messages or e-mail on the same channels the bank normally communicates with them; “Complaints mostly by non-residents against locally licensed non-bank payment service providers (non-bank PSPs) and Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASPs). These generally fall under the relationship fraud category since they involve several fraudulent payments spread over a relatively long period.”

In terms of the informal route in 2025, the office of the arbiter handled 918 enquiries across banking, insurance investments and other sectors. This is a 16.1 per cent rise when compared to 2024. 607 of these complaints came from Malta, while 311 came from abroad.

The arbiter’s office said that 93.8 per cent of these enquiries were resolved with general information, while 3.2 per cent were resolved by a customer relations officer. 3.1 per cent were in progress at the end of last year.

Study finds nearly 16 per cent of those targeted by financial scams suffered financial loss

During 2025, the Office of the Arbiter for Financial Services, in collaboration with a popular daily TV programme, commissioned a national survey on financial scams. The survey was carried out by Sagalytics in May through telephone interviews with 600 persons aged 16 and over.

It found that approximately 72.6 per cent of respondents were familiar with the term “financial scams” and 88 per cent said they knew what it meant and provided examples. “Yet this awareness has not prevented high levels of exposure. More than half of the population (58.5 per cent) reported that scammers had targeted them,” the report says.

The highest percentage of scam targets was among those aged 26-35, with 63.6 per cent reporting such experiences, the report reads. “High-income earners were also the most frequently targeted group, with 80.4 per cent reporting attempted scam contact.”

It said that among those targeted, 15.8 per cent suffered a financial loss. The highest rate of reported loss was among persons aged 36-45, with 33.3 per cent reporting they had lost money. It also found that younger respondents and those in the highest tax bracket were also more likely to receive investment approaches through social media.

“The most common successful fraud involved unauthorised payments, accounting to 58 per cent of cases in which money was stolen. Payments made to invest in crypto were also reported, which confirms that scam prevention should cover both payment fraud and investment scams.”

The survey concluded that consumer reaction to scam attempts was generally cautious. Among those targeted, almost 80 per cent recognised the scam immediately. But it found that formal reporting remains uneven. Among those who lost money, nearly 70 per cent reported the incident to their bank. Of that group, 77.1 per cent received partial or full reimbursement. “By contrast, only 36.2 per cent reported the case to the Police and 10.1 per cent reported it to the Office of the Arbiter for Financial Services (OAFS). Among those who did not file with the OAFS, 58.1 per cent said they were unaware of the Arbiter.”