Financial Arbiter records busiest year yet as complaints surge in 2025

The Office of the Arbiter for Financial Services said in a statement that it registered its busiest year on record in 2025, with complaints, enquiries and decisions all reaching new highs, according to its Annual Report published yesterday.

Arbiter for Financial Services Alfred Mifsud described 2025 as “a year of record numbers”, highlighting significant increases across the Office’s dispute resolution work.

The Office registered 350 complaints during the year, a 39% increase from the 251 recorded in 2024, while enquiries and minor cases rose by 16.1% to 918.

The number of complaints decided more than doubled, with the Arbiter issuing 192 final decisions compared with 94 the previous year.

Of those decisions, 150 complaints were not upheld, 37 were partially upheld and five were upheld in full. Only 11 decisions, or 6%, were appealed, down from 7% in 2024 and 12% in 2023. Five cases were decided by the Court of Appeal (Inferior Jurisdiction), with the Arbiter’s rulings largely confirmed.

The Office awarded a total of €253,000 in compensation across 39 decisions, with the highest individual award amounting to €27,000. Decisions were issued on average within 42 calendar days of the final hearing or final submissions.

Mediation continued to play a key role in resolving disputes before formal adjudication. A total of 131 complaints were closed through mediation, settlement or withdrawal, including 81 resolved during the mediation process.

During the year, the Office also abolished its €25 complaint fee, making its services free for both complainants and financial services providers.

Fraud complaints remained the largest category handled by the Office. According to the report, these mainly involved two types of scams: fraudulent payment requests sent through fake bank messages, and so-called “pig butchering” scams, where victims are manipulated over extended periods into transferring large sums of money.

In response to the growing number of such cases, the Office issued a technical note in February 2025 outlining how complaints relating to pig butchering scams should be assessed and identifying areas where financial service providers could improve their practices.

The Office said it is also working with the police and Malta’s financial regulator on a national awareness campaign against payment fraud, scheduled to launch in 2026.

A national survey commissioned by the Office found that 58.5% of 600 respondents aged 16 and over had been targeted by a financial scam. However, only 10.1% of those who lost money reported their case to the Arbiter. Among those who did not report, 58.1% said they were unaware the Office existed.

The report also highlights legislative changes introduced on 1 October 2025 that broadened the definition of an eligible customer, allowing more fraud victims to lodge complaints with the Office even if they had no direct contractual relationship with the financial services provider that processed their payment.

The amendment expands the Arbiter’s jurisdiction over fraud-related complaints while clarifying that providers can only be held responsible for their own failings rather than those of other parties involved in a payment chain. The changes apply only to transactions processed on or after 1 October 2025.

Beyond its dispute resolution work, the Office continued its public outreach efforts through social and traditional media, publishing weekly summaries of decisions and consumer lessons every Friday.