Dunne warns firms fall short on basic customer service
Patricia Dunne, Director of Horizontal Supervision at the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI), said many firms fail basic customer service standards. Speaking on October 23, 2026, she urged boards to embed the revised Consumer Protection Code.
Two years expose recurring failures
Customer experience is one of the CBI's three consumer and investor protection priorities.
Its two-year review across retail sectors found repeated calls to resolve simple issues, unrecorded complaints, unclear communication and inadequate root cause analysis.
Quality assurance often favored process compliance over service quality.
Evidence included firm data, Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman complaints data, the Consumer Insights Model, social media monitoring and a July consumer event.
Positive practices included empathetic engagement, knowledgeable staff, accountability, training and service metrics.
A report published that week sets out findings and case studies.
The CBI will add complaints-rights information to its Consumer Hub.
Boards own the customer journey
The revised Consumer Protection Code is now in effect.
Dunne called for customer interests to guide culture, strategy, product design and post-sales support, with fair, timely complaints resolution.
Boards and senior management must lead implementation.
Seminar speakers included Dorothy O'Byrne of the Customer Contact Management Association (CCMA) and Ciaran Barrett of Vodafone Ireland.
Two panels covered complaints and customer support, then technology, accessibility, digitalisation and data.
The CBI will assess whether supervision improves outcomes and examine AI-related service risks.
Compliance is not enough
Dunne's message places responsibility for service failures with firms' leadership, not just complaints teams.
She said operational pressures do not remove customer service obligations.
The supervisory test is whether firms deliver better consumer outcomes, rather than merely document compliant processes.