POTENTIAL EFFECTIVENESS OF INTEGRATING ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION MECHANISMS INTO THE BANK OF TANZANIA FINANCIAL CONSUMER COMPLAINT RESOLUTION FRAMEWORK
The growth and development of financial services in Tanzania enlarged the need of having effective mechanisms for resolving dispute between financial service providers and consumers. Despite that, the Bank of Tanzania has established legal regime for resolving financial consumer complaints but doubt remain as to whether the current legal regime provides fair, efficiently, effective and independent redress mechanisms. The practice reveals that, consumer who is dissatisfied with financial service has to lodge complaint to financial service provider through using internal procedures, whereby remain dissatisfied could escalate the matter to the Bank of Tanzania by way of review, if still dissatisfied could seek review to the Governor and finally to the High Court Commercial Division. This article see the need of integrating ADR mechanisms such as mediation and arbitration into the Bank of Tanzania’s financial consumer complaint resolution framework as means of providing faster and less expensive dispute resolution, promotion of access to justice, confidentiality and preservation of bank- customer relationships, reduction of court case backlogs, promotion of consumer confidence, financial stability and promotion of party autonomy. Finally, this article provide conclusion and propose recommendations to the Government, Legislature, Bank of Tanzania and financial service provider.
Keywords: Alternative Dispute Resolution, Financial Service Provider, Bank of Tanzania, Financial Consumer Protection, Complaint Resolution, Access to Justice.
