The complainant’s husband passed away. The complainant had never held a bank account in her own name; however, as a result of her husband’s passing, she was compelled to open an account to enable her to receive the payments from the estate.
When opening the bank account, she also signed a mobile banking agreement that was given to her as part of the account opening documentation. Subsequently, the complainant was a victim of mobile banking fraud and R 20 764.00 was stolen from her account. The complainant had however never used mobile banking or even downloaded the Bank’s App. The only transaction noted on the Bank’s App was the one that she disputed.
When assessing the merits of the matter, our Office considered that the complainant was a vulnerable consumer: her husband had passed on and she then had to open a bank account for the very first time. As she had never previously been a banking customer, her knowledge and understanding of banking products would have been limited. She would not have been able to fully understand, nor have been aware of, the products, their functionality and the risks associated with them. This would especially apply to the workings of the mobile banking App. In our view, at the time the account was opened, the Bank should have considered the suitability of the product and the complainant’s specific circumstances prior to giving her access to the mobile banking platform, especially being aware of the prevalence of fraud on that platform.
We were further of the view that the standard terms and conditions did not adequately inform this vulnerable consumer of the features of this product and the risks associated with it.
It was suggested to the Bank that it reimburse the customer in full for the loss suffered. The Bank accepted our recommendation.
PRINCIPLE The Bank must ensure that a customer fully understands the workings of a product at the time of contracting. The Bank must do a needs analysis assessment before offering customers any product.
