I worked for one of the big 4 banks for 30 years from a teller to a Branch Manager to senior management roles at the area and regional levels. I can assure you that Customer Service within all banks is paramount. When Ralph Norris's pay was linked to the Customer Service Index that was all his doing. He made that choice to ensure that all staff were aware how important it was to him. Nearly every customer facing/phone answering employee's remuneration revolves around some percentage of customer service so it is not a minor issue. That is why 99.98% of bank employees will do everything in their power to solve any issue particularly mangers as the high up you go, the more of their bonus is measured on CS.
As for the Ombudsmen, it is a costly exercise for each bank for the BO to become involved. I havent been in banking for 5 years but in my time, if the BO had to become involved where the problem couldnt be solved at the branch/department level and the BO had to investigate and make a decision then it would end up costing that Bank over 15k no matter if the dispute was over $100-00. Even for the BO to write to a bank asking a few questions before on forwarding would cost around 3k. The process for a problem sent to the BO would be fro them to forward it to that particular bank's customer relations section who would then try to resolve it with the branch/person/dept. Of course, it is why you need to go to the coalface first before the BO and the front line would do everything to resolve.
As for abiding by the final decision of the BO if a dispute got that far, each bank has different decisions. The CBA was the best with about a 90% follow rate and the NAB the worst at about 70%. Of course sometimes banks wouldnt abide by the BO's decision for a policy or legal issue.
This is why I think the CS as far as complaints go is a lot better than airlines. Any problem to be resolved with a bank, you will always get a full name and number of the person who is to make the decisions and the contact will always be verbal first (if possible) then confirmed in writing. Try to get the surname of the person you are complaining to, usually in Manila, for an airline or Telco.
