NMB Bank’s Promise to Customers:

• NMB Bank is committed to efficient and fair resolution of complaints by all in the Bank at all levels, acknowledging consumers’ rights to complain and actively solicit for feedback from the Bank.
• The Bank is committed to communicating the Complaints Handling Procedure to all staff members, clients and external stakeholders ensuring that information is easy to understand.   
• The Bank is committed to resolving customer complaints promptly, courteously, fairly and in confidentiality.  
• The Bank is committed to putting in place adequate resources for complaints handling with sufficient levels of delegated authority and further identifies the need for complaints to be reviewed by someone in an independent position (i.e. someone who was not involved in the matter which has been raised).
• The Bank aims to find and implement available remedies to exhaustion for complaints raised and document steps taken to resolve customer complaints.

Definitions

• Complaint - means a verbal or written communication of dissatisfaction by a complainant, relating to a product or service offered by NMB Bank or to an agreement with NMB Bank in respect of its products or services in terms of which an allegation is made.
• Complainant - means a person who has submitted a specific complaint to NMB, or regulatory bodies, including the relevant ombudsman schemes, and to NMB service providers.
• Agent - means an entity that has been contracted by NMB Bank herein referred to as the Bank and approved by the Central Bank to provide the services of the Bank on behalf of the Bank.
• Agency banking business - means the business carried out by an agent on behalf of the Bank as permitted under the Agency banking Guidelines of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) herein referred to as the Central Bank.  
• Principal Branch - The Branch which has been designated to support the particular agents.
• Outlet - means an agent’s place of business directly responsible to the Bank’s Head Office, used for carrying out a commercial activity of the agent but does not include a mobile unit.
• Contact Centre - is a central point for which all customer interactions across various channels is managed. Channels include emails, web chats, social media interactions, WhatsApp and telephone calls

Scope of Complaints

Complaints shall include matters relating to the below mentioned but are not limited to the following:

• Financial loss by a complainant as a result of failure on the part of the Bank in the provision of a product and or service pursuant to the contract;  
• Failure to provide appropriate advice or information;  
• Poor service delivery;  
• Failure to meet standards and or codes of conduct;  
• Breach of Terms or Conditions;
• Claims for losses, property damage or personal injury.

NB: If the Client wishes to make a claim against NMB Bank for losses, property damage or personal injury this should be made in writing by email or letter to the Customer Service Department. The Customer Service team will either deal with the Client’s claim or pass it to the Bank Insurance and Claims handlers.

How to submit a complaint  

The scope of this procedure extends to all complaints against NMB Bank that are received by telephone, letter, social media, WhatsApp, email, or in person. Complaints may be submitted to the following contacts:

The Bank’s business hours are as below:

Monday to Friday 08:00hrs -16:30hrs

Saturday 08:00-11:30hrs

Closed on Sundays and public holidays.

Outside these hours, our 24Hr Contact Centre is available to attend to any queries or complaints.  Customers can also leave their queries or complaints via the following platforms;

• Facebook page: NMB Bank Zimbabwe
• Twitter: @nmbbankzim
• WhatsApp: +263775710000
• Email: enquiries@nmbz.co.zw
• NMB Bank Website online Customer Support Portal on: www.nmbz.co.zw  

Receiving a Complaint

Complaints shall be recorded as outlined in this procedure.  

It is preferred that complaints are received in writing using any one of the NMB channels highlighted above. Verbal complaints (e.g via telephone or walk in) will be accepted under this process and records of same shall be retained by the designated resources

The Complaint Handling Process:

If a client makes a complaint directly to any NMB Bank member of staff:

• In the first instance, where a customer is unhappy about any aspect of the Bank service, they are free to approach any member of the Bank staff.
• The member of staff will try, where possible, to resolve the complaint immediately involving his or her supervisor or appropriate manager if necessary.
• Once resolved, the report or complaint is forwarded to Contact Centre Management for recording on the Reserve Bank Complaints Handling Portal.
• Where the complaint has not been resolved, the local Manager investigates and resolve the complaint.  
• Where the local Manager fails or is unable to resolve the complaint, it is escalated to the respective Head of Department (HOD) who will resolve the complaint and forward the report to Contact Centre Management for recording on the Reserve Bank Complaints Handling Portal.   
• If the complaint is still not resolved by the line HOD, the complaint is escalated to the Head of Consumer Banking and VAS or Chief Banking Officer and dealt with as described below:

If the complaint is made directly to Customer Service Team using Comments and Compliments form available on the website or by contacting them directly:  

• The Bank Customer Service staff will enter the complaint into the Bank Customer Complaints Register. This enables them to view all the information on the Client’s case and pass it to the appropriate members of staff for investigation quickly;
• The Bank assesses the complaint for its complexity. The Bank will investigate the issues the Client raised and respond as quickly as possible;
• If the Client has provided contact details the Bank will attempt to resolve the complaint by telephone. If the client agrees that the issue has been resolved, then at the end of the call, the Bank will not contact the client again on the matter by phone or mail.
• If client is unhappy with the Bank’s first response, and, if relevant, any recompense the Bank has offered, the complaint will be reviewed by the Bank Branch Operations Manager or Branch Manager. The Bank will respond to the client again either supporting the Bank original response or explaining a new decision. The Bank’s second response will include the name and position of the Manager who has reviewed the Client’s case.
• If the client is unhappy with the Bank’s second response, they can refer the complaint to the respective Head of Department or Head of Consumer Banking and Value added Services. Contact details and more information on the respective Heads of Department are as below:

Customers with specific needs:

The Bank appreciates that some customers who have specific access requirements or whose first language is not English may have difficulties communicating with the it. The Bank will handle these cases sensitively and give its responses in an appropriate format. The Bank will make provision for customers who are visually impaired or hard of hearing. Where possible, the Bank will make provision for customers whose first language is not English

Complaints Handling by Agents:

As a minimum, the following requirements will be complied with at all times when an Agent receives a complaint from the customer, which should be in writing:

• The letter shall be forwarded to the principal Branch within 24hrs and the Branch shall respond within 24 hours from time of receipt depending with the nature of the complaint.
• Other complaints must be channeled to the principal Branch via e-mail addresses advised by the principal Branch. The Bank will provide dedicated customer care telephone lines, WhatsApp numbers, Social media handles for lodging complaints by customers. The customers can also use the Bank’s telephone lines to verify with the Bank, the authenticity and identity of the agent, its physical location and the validity of its agency banking business;  
• The Agent may use the Bank’s Contact Centre as a way of handling customer complaints and queries.
• All customer complaints shall be addressed within a reasonable time and in any case not later than 48 hours from the date of reporting or lodging the complaint. The Bank shall keep a record of all customer complaints and their redress thereof.
• The customer should be advised of the investigation outcome, in writing or through electronic channels, within seven (7) days of completing the investigation.

Response Times

The Bank target response times:

The Bank aims to respond fully to all complaints, including complex ones, within 48 hours, whether the Client contacts us by letter, phone,  WhatsApp, email, social media, website: www.nmbz.co.zw or in person. If the Client has not received a full response within 5 working days, the Bank will ensure that the Client is sent an update on the progress made on the complaint, and will continue to update the Client every 2 days until a full response is provided.

 
Busy periods:

The Bank will make reasonable endeavors to ensure that the response times are met even when there is an unexpected increase in the volume of complaints received. However, if there are exceptional circumstances, such as a period of major disruption, the Bank may, with agreement from the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe, increase these response times. The Bank will notify customers via the Bank website: www.nmbz.co.zw  ,  letter, phone, WhatsApp, email, or social media if this is the case and make every effort to respond to clients as soon as the Bank can.

 
The Bank will investigate all complaints made fully and fairly and:

• Ensure that it follows the Customer Complaints Handling Procedure consistently;
• Make every effort to address all the issues raised in the Client’s complaint as it responds;
• Provide full and relevant explanations for the actions or policies being complained about;  
• Explain how the Client can contact independent bodies if the Client is unhappy with the Bank second response.
• The Bank’s Customer Experience Department will handle any comment or complaint that requires an internal investigation. If the Bank carries out an in-house investigation, it will ensure it is undertaken thoroughly and fairly.

 Unreasonable, aggressive or abusive customers:

• The Bank understands that if clients perceive that it has not met their standards of customer service, they might feel angry or upset. Whilst the Bank respects the rights of customers to express their views, it will not tolerate aggressive, threatening or abusive actions of any kind towards members of staff.
• The Bank reserves the right to terminate any correspondence or communication that it believes to be ‘frivolous, vexatious or abusive’ in line with the Banking Act.
• The Bank will consult fully with its Legal & Corporate Secretary before it terminates any correspondence and inform the customer in writing of the reasons for the Bank’s decision.

Confidentiality

The Bank will protect client confidentiality and comply with the Data Protection Act at all times. The Client personal details or details about the complaint will not be divulged to any third parties unless the Bank has client’s consent in writing or if out of necessity for the purpose of fulfilling the Bank’s own obligations either to:

• Members of Parliament, the Department of Tax, other banking institutions and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in order to facilitate their investigations; and
• The Police on request, in order to support their investigation of crimes.

 
Monitoring and reporting

Monitoring,  

• The Bank monitors the Customer Complaints Handling Procedure to ensure it is effective;  
• The Bank monitors telephone calls to the Customer Service Department to ensure the teams are handling Clients complaints in a friendly, appropriate and professional manner;
• The Bank Customer Experience Department samples and reviews written responses made by the Bank team to ensure that Clients complaints are being dealt with promptly and effectively;
• Customers rate service at each touchpoint and these satisfaction rates are monitored to ensure that Clients are happy with the Bank’s response;
• The Bank Customer Service team enters details of complaints received into the Customer Complaints register. This register enables the Bank to record and monitor the number and type of complaints received as well as average response times.
• The information obtained from the Bank monitoring processes is used to assess whether the Bank is handling Clients complaints efficiently and that customers are satisfied with the Bank’s responses. The Bank analyzes Client feedback to identify areas of service and product improvement.

 
Reporting for continuous improvement:

• The Bank sends customer comments, complaint details and reports to respective Managers and Directors at least every four weeks. Managers and Directors use this information to identify areas that require improvement and remedy areas needing such;
• The Bank provides a summary of comments and complaints to the Board of Directors quarterly so that issues requiring high level attention can be addressed;
• The Bank constantly monitors performance targets for handling customer comments and complaints and seek improved processes.