Announcements & News

In line with the endeavors of the Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) to protect the rights of customers of CBK regulated entities, including their right to file a complaint about transactions or services obtained, the CBK has issued an awareness announcement in order to clarify the complaint process. This includes clarifying the steps to be taken and the deadline by which the complainee should respond to the complaint as well as the procedures to be followed to submit complaints with such entities. The announcement aims to strengthen transparency and enhance awareness of the CBK regulated entities’ customers about their rights. In the aforesaid announcement, the CBK has set out the steps and procedures to be followed by customers with respect to the submission of complaints to CBK regulated entities before escalating the same to the CBK.

The awareness announcement covers the mechanism of submitting complaints to banks, investment companies and finance companies in addition to the steps to be followed after the submission, and at the outset of writing a complaint to the regulated entity which should be on the designated form available at all branches of that entity. Once the complainee receives the complaint, it should respond to the complaint within 30 working days of submission thereof and explain whether its response included corrective actions taken to resolve the complaint or a confirmation by that entity of the validity of the procedures taken to process the transaction. If the customer is not satisfied with the complainee’s response, he/ she may submit a grievance to the CBK attaching a copy of the complainee’s response and other necessary documentation.

However, in case the complainee has not responded within the aforementioned timeframe, or has not made available the forms designated for customers’ complaints, the customer may visit the CBK to submit his/her complaint on the forms designated for that purpose. In the case of a complaint against an exchange company supervised by the CBK, the customer should directly visit CBK Headquarters and submit his/her complaint on the designated forms available at the CBK reception.

We would like to draw your attention to the fact that the CBK receives direct phone calls through its Consumer Protection Unit from customers of banking and financial institutions and replies to enquiries relating to regulations applicable to the CBK regulated entities. Moreover, customers may access the instructions and regulations issued by the CBK and the general guidelines for filing complaints to the CBK from the CBK’s Website www.cbk.gov.kw and CBK’s Social Media accounts (@Centralbank_kw).