The Central Bank expects the Licensed Person to provide services to its customers in an utmost professional manner and to ensure their rights are appropriately protected. This chapter summarizes the minimum standards that a Licensed Person must maintain at all times in order to handle complaints from its customers effectively and efficiently.

1. 17.1.1The Licensed Person must implement appropriate processes and procedures to resolve complaints from its customers in a timely manner.

1. 17.2.1The Licensed Person must assign a dedicated phone number and an email ID for its customers to lodge their complaints;
2. 17.2.2The designated phone number and the email ID must be printed on all receipts given to the customer and also must be displayed at a prominent location in the licensed premises;
3. 17.2.3The Licensed Person must appoint/designate, subject to Paragraph 17.2.4 of this Chapter, an officer for handling customer complaints at its Head Office. The responsibilities of this officer must include the following:
   1. a)Receive complaints from customers either directly or through the branches;
   2. b)Record all complaints irrespective of its nature in a separate register;
   3. c)Resolve customer complaints; and
   4. d)Submit periodical reports to the Manager in Charge.
4. 17.2.4Depending on the nature, size and complexity of the business, the Licensed Person may appoint a dedicated Officer to handle customer complaints or combine this role with another suitable function subject to the conditions under Paragraphs 7.2.4 (a) of Chapter 7, 16.4.7 (a) and 16.5.1 (g) of Chapter 16;
5. 17.2.5Appropriate registers and log sheets must be maintained to record all customer complaints. Adequate entries must be made in such registers to demonstrate when the complaint was received or how and when it was resolved; and
6. 17.2.6All customer complaints must be dealt with fairly and promptly.

1. 17.3.1The Licensed Person must send a confirmation upon the receipt of every complaint to the customer within two (2) business days via SMS or email;
2. 17.3.2All complaints must be resolved within a reasonable period of time which shall not exceed ten (10) business days;
3. 17.3.3A final response must be provided to the customer within ten (10) business days; and
4. 17.3.4In case, a complaint is not resolved within ten (10) business days (i.e. an overdue complaint), the Licensed Person must update the customer, on the very next business day, with reasonable justifications for the possible delay.

1. 17.4.1The details of all overdue complaints for each month must be reported to the Manager in Charge within five (5) business days from the end of every month; and
2. 17.4.2The Manager in Charge must evaluate the effectiveness of the customer complaint procedure based on the report on overdue complaints.

1. 17.5.1The scope of the internal audit must include the overall efficiency of the Licensed Person in addressing customer complaints; and
2. 17.5.2The Internal Auditor must give special attention to the turnaround time for each customer complaint and investigate the reasons for overdue complaints.

As part of protecting the interest of customers, the Licensed Person has an obligation to assess, document and disclose the amount of unclaimed funds and monitor such funds until it is paid to the respective customer(s). This chapter describes the meaning, treatment and disclosure requirements related to unclaimed funds.

1. 18.1.1Funds involved in any money transfer transaction shall be treated as unclaimed funds under the following conditions:
   1. a)The funds involved in an outward money transfer to a bank account, whether local or foreign, will be considered as unclaimed funds if the Licensed Person fails to pay it back to the respective customer within seven (7) calendar days upon cancellation of that transaction by the remitter or upon being returned by the beneficiary bank as it could not credit the beneficiary’s account for various reasons. The Licensed Person must collect the funds back from the foreign or local bank if the settlement of such transaction has already been completed with the bank;
   2. b)The funds involved in an outward remittance via an instant money transfer service provider or any other financial institutions to be paid to the beneficiary in cash will be treated as unclaimed funds if the beneficiary fails to collect the funds within ninety (90) calendar days from the date of transaction. The Licensed Person must collect the funds back from the instant money transfer service provider or the financial institution if the settlement of such transaction has already been completed;
   3. c)The funds involved in a demand draft issued by the Licensed Person shall be considered as unclaimed funds if the beneficiary fails to cash such draft prior to the date of its expiry. The Licensed Person must collect the funds back from the foreign correspondent bank in case the settlement has already been completed;
   4. d)Inward remittance transaction for which the Licensed Person received the settlement funds from a foreign correspondent will be treated as unclaimed funds if it is not paid to the beneficiary within thirty (30) calendar days from the date of receiving the payment instruction unless it is refunded to such foreign correspondent; and
   5. e)WPS Funds held by the Licensed Person against the WPS SIF File rejected (due to errors in the SIF File) by the Central Bank must be classified as unclaimed funds if the client (i.e. the employer) fails to provide the correct file to the Licensed Person within five (5) business days from the date of rejection.

1. 18.2.1The Licensed Person must ensure that unclaimed funds are assessed, documented, monitored and disclosed on a monthly basis subject to the below standards:
   1. a)The Licensed Person must implement Policies and Procedures to assess, document, disclose and monitor unclaimed funds. These Policies and Procedures must be approved by the Board of Directors (or by the Owner/Partners where there is no Board of Directors);
   2. b)Roles and responsibilities in relation to the management of unclaimed funds must be clearly defined;
   3. c)The unclaimed funds must be segregated and held as cash in local currency stock or kept in the local bank account. This fund must not be used for day to day business activities;
   4. d)The Licensed Person must constantly try to communicate with the respective customer(s) to refund unclaimed funds;
   5. e)The Licensed Person must assess the amount of unclaimed funds as on the last day of every month and disclose it as a separate item under “Current Liabilities” of the monthly return Form No. 1; and
   6. f)The Internal Auditor must review the procedures and the management of unclaimed funds as stated under Paragraphs 18.2.1 (a) to (e) of this Chapter and report its findings to the Board of Directors (or to the Owner/Partners where there is no Board of Directors).