AI is dumping 150-page complaints on finance ombud’s desk

The idea that artificial intelligence (AI) will ease workloads is certainly not happening at the National Financial Ombud (NFO). Complaints that previously would take a paragraph or two are now – with the aid of AI – coming in 150-page tomes, often with fake legal cases as references, says Reana Steyn, NFO CEO and head ombud, speaking at the Conduct Risk Conference in Midrand on Wednesday (11 March). Where the complaints adjudicators would previously look at a paragraph and make a call on whether to investigate further, they are now required to review complaints that sometimes run to 150 or even 200 pages.

It’s clear these are drafted using AI. “We’re supposed to be a speedy and efficient dispute resolution body. The institution against which the complaint is made is also using AI to reply,” says Steyn, adding to the ombud’s already stretched workload.

Steyn says the ombud takes pain to ensure responses are crafted by humans, not AI. Some of the case law cited in these AI-generated complaints to the NFO are completely fake. This is a problem that has already surfaced on multiple occasions in SA courts (see below).

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Fake or not, these complaints and the legal citations have to be researched and investigated by the NFO. The ombud says it must strike a balance between consumer advocacy and impartial resolution. About half the credit-related complaints were decided in favour of consumers in 2024.

The figure was 25% for life insurance, 12% for non-life insurance and 21% for banking services. The NFO’s 2024 report – released in 2025 – shows nearly 36 000 complaints received between March and December of that year, with 28 000 resolved in the same period. The ombud recovered R328 million for consumers, with an average of 115 days to resolve a case. In cases involving the banks, the time to resolve a case is about 52 days.

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