Last Year 34 – COVID made life easier for banking ombudsman Nicola Sladden, riding shotgun on the big four Australian banks, as well as the smaller local operators.

Following increased concern in recent years over privacy concerns and issues like low interest ‘bonus accounts’, the COVID pandemic saw a drop in complaints last year (down bya little over 4 per cent) over the manner in which banks handled customer pleas for financial hardship relief as the pandemic hit incomes, along with the standard lending related complaints.

She found the banks taking different approaches as to whether they compensated customers for losses when they suffered from fraud.

Although there are three other organisations handling banking complaints, all the big four banks belong to the banking ombudsman scheme.

An easier year and less tension in the sector sees a drop in ranking for her.