Regulatory Alerts2024-03-26
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Complaints Against Debt Collection Agents Employed by Authorized Institutions
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority issued a circular detailing the results of its industry survey on complaints against debt collection agents employed by authorized institutions for the second half of 2023. The report reveals that 22 complaints were received by six institutions against five agents, resulting in an incidence rate of 0.05 per 1,000 assigned accounts, which represents an increase from the previous half-year. Despite the rise in complaint volume, no instances of breach of the Code of Banking Practice were reported during the period.
Our Ref: B1/1C B9/67C 26 March 2024 The Chief Executive All Authorized Institutions Dear Sir/Madam, Complaints Against Debt Collection Agents Employed by Authorized Institutions I write to inform you of the results of the industry survey on complaints against debt collection agents (DCAs) employed by authorized institutions (AIs) for the second half of 2023. During the reporting period, 33 AIs used the services of DCAs and assigned 458,136 accounts to 20 DCAs. A total of 22 complaints against 5 DCAs were received by 6 AIs (compared with 10 complaints against 5 DCAs received by 4 AIs in H1 2023). The average incidence of complaints per 1,000 accounts assigned was 0.05 in H2 2023 (compared with 0.02 in H1 2023). 1 complaint was lodged by an unrelated third party in H2 2023. Please see Annex for details. No instance of a breach of the Code of Banking Practice was reported in H2 2023. Yours faithfully, Alan Au Executive Director (Banking Conduct) Encl. c.c. The Chairperson, Hong Kong Association of Banks The Chairperson, The DTC Association Secretary, Code of Banking Practice Committee (Attn: Ms Queenie Wong – HKAB) Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury (Attn: Mr Justin To)
Annex Survey on DCA complaints received by AIs – H2/2023 Table 1: Number of AIs using DCA services H2/2023 H1/2023 H2/2022 H1/2022 H2/2021 AIs receiving DCA complaints 6 4 10 10 8 AIs receiving no DCA complaints 27 28 22 23 25 Total 33 32 32 33 33 Table 2: Number of DCAs employed by AIs H2/2023 H1/2023 H2/2022 H1/2022 H2/2021 AIs employing 1 – 5 DCAs 31 30 30 31 30 AIs employing 6 – 10 DCAs 2 3 AIs employing 11 – 15 DCAs 0 Total 33 32 32 33 33 Table 3: Incidence of DCA complaints H2/2023 H1/2023 H2/2022 H1/2022 H2/2021 DCA complaints received (A) 22 10 19 20 21 Accounts assigned (B) 458,136 414,755 433,323 414,996 394,196 Incidence of complaints per 1,000 accounts (C) = (A) / (B) x 1,000 0.05 0.02 0.04 0.05 0.05 Table 4: Status of complainants H2/2023 H1/2023 H2/2022 H1/2022 H2/2021 Debtors 21 10 15 16 19 Referees 0 Family members/friends 0 0 1 1 0 Unrelated third parties 1 0 3 3 2 Total 22 10 19 20 21
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