YEREVAN, May 19. / ARKA /. The bulk of complaints filed by Armenian citizens to the office of the financial ombudswoman is about poor work of insurance companies, concerning, particularly, the mandatory insurance of vehicles, financial ombudswoman Piruz Sarkisian said today.

Addressing an international forum in Yerevan on how to strengthen public trust in this institution and expand financial intermediation, she said this trend has been observed for three years in a row, while the smallest number of complaints is about money transfer systems.

She noted that the percentage of cases which are solved by the office of financial ombudswoman in favor of citizens is getting bigger. In 2013 the figure was 68%, while now it is over 70%.

She also said the number of complaints received by the office is also growing; particularly, in 2014 they grew by 1.5 times from 2013. For example, in 2013 the office received 2,003 complaints of which 818 were examined and solved in favor of citizens. In 2014 the number of complaints rose to 3,244 of which 1,276 were solved in favor of citizens. In the first five months of 2015 the office has received 1,197 complaints, of which 499 have been already examined.

Piruz Sarkisian said also the second largest number of complaints is filed against banks, which are followed by credit organizations and money transfer systems.

She said since its inception in 2009 the office has received 9,538 complaints against financial institutions, of which 3,297 cases were examined and rulings on 690 million drams worth compensations were made. Overall, 70 percent of examined cases were solved in favor of complainants.

The goals of the financial ombudswoman office are to protect the rights and interests of the customers of the banks, operational, effective and free consideration of their complaints and increase of public trust in the financial system of the country. M.V. -0-