What are the prerequisites for complaining?

• What may you complain about? The complaint must concern the refusal to grant a Basic Business Account, the termination of a framework agreement in relation to a Basic Business Account or the fee for a Basic Business Account.

• Who may file a complaint? The Danish Financial Complaint Board handles complaints from companies and associations located in Denmark and where at least one of the persons stated in relation to the company or the association has residence in Denmark, cf. the conditions for filing a complaint here and the Statutes of the Complaint Board – Basic Business Account Art. 2.4.

• Which financial institutions may you complain against? The Complaint Board handles complaints against a number of larger banks that are comprised by the Act on Payment Accounts and Basic Business Accounts, cf. this text and the Statutes of the Complaint Board – Basic Business Account Art 2, 1 and 2.

• Before submitting a complaint to the Complaint Board, you must have complained to the financial institution and had your complaint dismissed, received an unsatisfactory answer or no answer to your complaint within five weeks of the financial institution’s receipt of your complaint. The financial institution will inform you who is responsible for handling complaints in relation the Basic Business Accounts.

• The Complaint Board does not handle complaints that fall within the jurisdiction of public authorities or other complaints or appeals boards, or that have been decided by a court of law or an arbitration tribunal. This also applies to cases decided by settlement in court or before an authority. The Complaint Board may refuse to handle the complaint if it does not concern a specific financial dispute.

  For other grounds for refusal according to which the Complaint Board may or must refuse a complaint, see articles 3-6 of the Statutes of the Complaint Board here.

How do I file a complaint with the Complaint Board?

You may file the complaint and the documents pertaining hereto in Danish or in English. The complaint case will be handled electronically. You may start the complaint procedure with the Danish Financial Complaint Board – Basic Business Account here.

The case is considered to be submitted to the Complaint Board when we have received the duly signed complaint form as well as the mandatory complaint fee of DKK 1,000, including Danish VAT (DKK 800, excl. Danish VAT). 

When you are ready to submit your complaint, you should fill in a complaint form via this website.

If you do not have the possibility of submitting your complaint via this website, you can contact the Complaint Board’s secretariat. The contact details appear at the bottom of the page.

You must pay a complaint fee of DKK 1,000, including Danish VAT (DKK 800, excl. Danish VAT) which you can pay by the Danish debit card when submitting your complaint online. Alternatively, you can make an online bank transfer. Click here for information about bank account number. The complainant’s name must appear on the payment transfer.

We will return the fee if you succeed with the complaint in full or in part, if you withdraw your complaint or if the Complaint Board cannot consider your complaint.

Complaints from companies/associations are filed in the name of the complainant. During the complaint procedure, the company/association must be represented by a personal representative.

We have planned the complaints procedure so that you do not need to retain a lawyer or legal adviser. However, the complainant may at any time decide to seek independent advice or be represented or assisted by a third party. If the complainant chooses to retain a lawyer to act on his/her behalf, the complainant should note that neither party must pay costs to the other party in relation to the complaint procedure.

When filing the complaint, documentation of the right to complain and authorization to bind the company/association must be attached (documentation for domicile in Denmark, that the relevant persons have residence in Denmark and that the representative is authorized to represent the complainant): Transcript from the CVR register (CVR = company number), transcript of the National Register of Persons, statutes and reports of general meetings. Transcripts from registers may be no older than one month. For more information, please consult this text.

Furthermore, filled-in and signed Power of Attorney  from the person(s) with authorisation to bind the complainant to the representative must be attached. Power of Attorney form – Basic Business Account – for print and completion may be found here.

When filing the complaint, the representative of the complainant must complete the part of the complaint form concerning consent to the electronic handling of data by the Complaint Board.

Consent is granted to the following:

• that the Complaint Board may disclose all information relating to the complaint to the financial institution(s) in question,
• that the financial institution(s) in question may provide information about the complainant to the Complaint Board regardless of the financial institution confidentiality obligation, 
• that the Complaint Board may receive all information about the complainant from all parties - including social, health, criminal offences and other personal information - to be used by the Complaint Board when processing the complaint, 
• that processing, safekeeping and exchange of information between the parties and the Complaint Board is carried out electronically, and
• that all information regarding the complaint is saved by the Complaint Board five years after the complaint has been completed. Hereafter, all information is deleted, unless the Complaint Board in special cases assesses that further safekeeping is necessary. 

If I disclose personal data about anyone else but the complainant, I declare that I have obtained this person’s consent that his/her personal data may form part of the complaint and may be processed by the Complaint Board and the financial institution(s) involved.

Withdrawal: At any time, you may withdraw your consent to the Complaint Board’s processing of data. If this is the case, please contact the Secretariat of the Complaint Board. If you withdraw your consent, the data will be deleted and will no longer be accessible. Non-decided cases by the Complaint Board will be considered to be withdrawn, the case will be closed and the complaint fee will be reimbursed. Withdrawing the consent will not affect the legality of the processing of personal data up to the time of the withdrawal and it will not affect the legality of a decision already made.