The number of complaints filed by consumers of Mozambique’s banking system fell by 36.6% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year, according to the latest report published by the Bank of Mozambique (BdM), as reported by Lusa.
Between January and June this year, the central bank received 620 complaints, compared to 979 in the first half of 2024. Despite the decrease, complaints continue to focus mainly on the country’s two largest commercial banks, Banco Comercial e de Investimentos (BCI) and Millennium bim.
BCI, owned by the Portuguese Caixa Geral de Depósitos, leads with 211 complaints, corresponding to a rate of 8.8 per 100,000 clients. Millennium bim, part of the Millennium BCP group, recorded 113 complaints, with a rate of 5.2. Both are the only institutions classified by BdM as having more than one million clients, with BCI accounting for 2.4 million and bim 2.2 million.
Among institutions with a client base between 200,000 and one million, notable examples include Absa Mozambique, with 33 complaints (rate of 13.6), Standard Bank with 35 complaints (7.4), and Moza Banco with 20 (7.1).
According to the report, 33.1% of complaints relate to credit operations, 26.9% to bank accounts, 18.2% to ATM operations, and 11.6% to electronic money.
The central bank also reported that, following the complaints received, over eight million meticais (125,000 dollars) were recovered and returned to clients, in addition to the initiation of sanctioning procedures against two financial institutions.
It should be recalled that in 2024, BdM recorded a total of 1,788 complaints, the highest number on record, with 809 in the second half and 979 in the first half. This already represented an increase of 38.5% compared to the total for 2023.
In a previous report, published in October, BdM indicated that it had upheld 85% of the complaints concluded last year, resulting in the return of around 18 million meticais (281,000 dollars) to affected consumers.
Currently, Mozambique’s financial system comprises 15 commercial banks, 14 microbanks, four credit cooperatives, 13 savings and loan organisations, and 2,304 microcredit operators, among other authorised institutions.
