ArmInfo. Insurance companies account for 80% or 176.7 million drams of total compensations paid to privates in 2015 through mediation of financial ombudsperson, Piruz Sargsyan, financial mediator/ombudsperson of Armenia, told a news conference today, on January 25. She said most of the complaints submitted to the Financial Ombudsperson's Office are over the motor third-party liability insurance (MTPL), which is the most disputable issue for both the financial organizations and individuals.
She said 176.7 million drams compensations were paid under 1230 out of total 1448 complaints the Office considered in 2015 (a 13.5% year on year growth). Since the establishment of the Financial Ombudsperson's Office on January 24 2009 through January 21 2016, financial organizations paid 828 million drams compensations under 4293 considered complaints through mediation of the Office.
In 2015, the Office received 3829 complaints, 3263 of which were against financial organizations. 1448 complaints were accepted for consideration of which 78.64% were settled in favor of the complainants, including 59.5% resulted in reconciliation of the parties to the dispute.
Most of the considered complaints (1448 in 2015) , 1091 were against insurance companies, 327 - against banks, 15 - against the Bureau of Motor Insurers, 14 - against credit companies, 1 - against a payment system. Another 218 complaints are still under consideration by the Financial Ombudsperson.
In general, in 2013-2015, the complaints against financial organizations increased nearly threefold. The services of the Financial Ombudsperson are free of charge. The financial organizations pay for the Office services.