Getting to know Banking

What is expected from a bank

 

Transparency and Reliability

Being transparency, competence and integrity the guiding principles of banking, banks are ruled by rigorous standards in the provided information, which is published regularly and is publicly available, namely through the Annual Report and Accounts. On the other hand, banks are subject to prudential and regulatory standards, aligned with the best international practices.

Consumer Protection Regarding Financial Products and Services

The banking institution, in its relationship with customers, must observe the conduct rules of Notice No. 5/2012, which defines the Consumer Protection Rules Regarding Financial Products and Services, including:

  • To act with competence, diligence, prudence, good faith, so as not to defraud the client deliberately in a negligent, reckless, abusive, coercive way or through misleading advertising;
  • To respect the client's right to choose and change products or services as well as the financial institution;
  • To get relevant and necessary information from the costumers, to check their capability to fulfill their obligations on the requested products and services;
  • To report clear and understandable written fees, commissions and other charged expenses regarding operations;
  • To ensure that customers personal operations data is not used for any other purpose except for the compliance with client instructions and rules issued by the Banco Nacional de Angola or in case of any other legal provision which expressly limits the duty of secrecy;
  • To enable the client’s access to adequate and functional mechanisms of complaint to solve problems diligently;
  • To use resources, procedures, systems and necessary controls to ensure compliance with this and other applicable regulations;
  • To have a complaints book at the client’s disposal in all facilities.

Financial Institutions Duties

Disclosure obligations

  • Banking Institutions must inform their customers, clearly and unequivocally, on the remuneration they offer for received funds, on interest rates and credit conditions, as well as the price of services and other prices (Law No. 13/2005);
  • Banking Institutions must provide information about services and products they sell to the public in a visible, complete, accurate, up-to-date and unambiguous way and expressed in clear and objective language (Notice No. 2/2014);
  • To ensure transparency and comparability, the information on commercialized products and services must be provided to clients prior, during and at the time of the conclusion of the contract, and should include the correct specification of the product characteristics, fees, charges and expenses, and the risks they present (Notice No. 2/2014);
  • Banking Institutions must have a comprehensive Price List of general conditions including the consequences of the execution of operations and the financial products and services marketed to the public (Notice No. 2/2014);
  • The contracts established between banks and their clients should contain all the information on the terms and conditions related to products, must be clear and concisely written, and the financial institution should provide the customer a copy of the contract and other related information regarding the operation (Notice No. 2/2014).

Customer Assistance

  • Banking institutions should provide clients with appropriate and comprehensive information on the correct use of offered products and services, enabling the evaluation of the adequacy of the proposed contract to their needs and to their financial situation (Notice No. 2/2014).

Customer Service

  • The financial institution should establish in its organizational structure a specialized area to support customer service, in order to ensure (i) permanent acceptance of complaints; (ii) the fast settlement of claims; (iii) that customers are informed of the progress and results of their complaints (Notice No. 5/2012).

Priority Service

  • The financial institution must ensure priority assistance to people with physical disabilities or temporary or permanent reduced mobility, to the elderly, to pregnant women, to nursing mothers and to people accompanied by infants (Notice No. 5/2012).

Security

  • The financial institution must ensure the physical as well as property security of those who access their establishments, by installing video surveillance systems and other appropriate means to this purpose (Notice No. 5/2012).

Collection of Personal Information

  • The financial institution must gather the needed data for their products and services, accounts maintenance, assessment of the ability to pay, and execution of customer instructions in compliance with the principle "Know Your Customer" (Notice No. 5/2012).

Advertising

  • Advertisement of financial products and services must unequivocally identify the financial institution responsible for the advertised product (Notice No. 5/2012);
  • The information contained in advertisements must respect the truth and be properly updated (No 5/2012 Notice);
  • In financial products and services advertisements, the information needed for a proper evaluation of the characteristics of advertised financial product or service should not be omitted or concealed (Notice No. 5/2012).

Technical Competence

  • Banking financial institutions should ensure customers that all activities are performed with high levels of technical expertise and trustworthyness, and that the institution possesses all necessary material and technical resources to accomplish the service delivery under appropriate conditions of quality and efficiency (Law No. 13 / 2005).

Relationship with Customers

  • In the relationship with customers, managers and employees of banking financial institutions should act with diligence, loyalty, discretion and conscientious respect of the interests entrusted to them (Law No. 13/2005).

Duty of Secrecy

  • Members of the administration or supervision of banking financial institutions, their employees, representatives, commissioners and others who provide them services on a permanent or temporary basis may not disclose or use information about facts or details related to the institution life or about its relationship with its customers whenever the knowledge of such information comes from the exercise of their functions or the provision of the services (Law No. 13/2005).