ALMOST 1,000 complaints against banks and building societies were received by the Ombudsman for the Credit Institutions in the year up to September 30th last.

The ombudsman's 1996 annual report, published yesterday, shows that 275 complaints went to a full investigation during the year, and 109 were upheld. The ombudsman is an independent arbitrator who rules on disputes concerning credit institutions. He can make awards of up to £30,000 in any single case and his findings are binding on the banks and building societies concerned.

Complaints concerning lending and mortgages accounted for 50 per cent of all those received. Allegations of mistakes in the operation of accounts was another large area of complaint, accounting for 24 per cent of the total.

Other complaints concerned poor service (6.5 per cent), credit cards (3 per cent) and foreign exchange (2.4 per cent). Twenty four complaints were received arising from transactions involving ATM machines, an increase of six from the previous year.

There were also a number of complaints during the year from customers who objected to what they thought was an over zealous approach by a credit institution to implementing the new money laundering regulations, introduced in 1994.

The ombudsman, Mr Gerry Murphy, in his report, pointed out that the number of complaints being received by his office was very consistent, at around 1,000 a year.

Complaints received are referred to the internal complaints procedure of the bank or building society concerned. This year, 721 cases were settled in this way.

In 150 of the cases investigated by the ombudsman, the complaint was not upheld. Sixteen cases were settled or withdrawn during the ombudsman's investigation.

The cost of running the scheme for the year was £278,000. The money is provided by the credit institutions in proportion to the size of their customer base.