Banking on Complaints: Can Banco Metropolitano Handle the Load?

This past Friday, Banco Metropolitano, through a post on its Facebook page, unveiled the official channels for customers to file complaints, make suggestions, and submit requests, as outlined in Law 167 concerning the System for Handling People's Complaints and Requests. While such an announcement might seem trivial elsewhere, in Cuba, it inevitably raises a pressing question: Can the bank truly manage all the grievances Cubans need to express?

According to the announcement, also covered by the Cuban News Agency, customers are invited to visit their nearest branch or the Population Attention Department at the central office located at Cuba Street 225, corner with O'Reilly, in Old Havana. The operating hours are limited to Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Just four hours on three days each week to address the pent-up frustrations of thousands of clients.

In addition, the bank has set up email addresses atencionalapoblacion@banmet.cu and clientes@banmet.cu, as well as the Bienestar Platform accessible at bc.gob.cu/tramite-poblacion, and the Ticket app, which allows for free appointment bookings up to a week in advance, with a minimum of 24 hours' notice. However, this service is only available at branches that are "equipped to implement this modality." In the Cuban context, this translates to: at branches that are operational.

The bank emphasized that responses to requests will be provided in writing, either in person or through available communication channels, in accordance with legal regulations. Law 167 stipulates deadlines of up to 30 calendar days for responses, with mandatory phases including reception, classification, registration, verification, response, solution, and control. Thirty days to resolve issues that, in many instances, should never have arisen.

What the announcement overlooks is the fact that earlier this year, the bank operated only a small percentage of its Havana branches during power outages, relying on manual payments and photovoltaic systems. It also fails to mention that by April 2023, at least 150 ATMs were out of service in Havana due to a lack of spare parts, or that in August 2023, cash withdrawal restrictions were justified as "logistical and security issues."

The grievances are numerous. In September 2024, Banco Metropolitano refused to refund a $3,000 deposit to a customer. In July 2025, REDSA announced a scheduled five-hour interruption of all electronic payment services, including ATMs, EnZona, point-of-sale terminals, and Transfermóvil. By March 2026, collecting pension payments was described as an "ordeal" by elderly Cubans; by April, Havana retirees considered it a "miracle" to receive their pensions.

The bank has issued similar guidelines before. The need to reiterate them suggests, quite clearly, that the issue is not Cubans' lack of knowledge on how to complain, but rather that complaining has been largely ineffective. A banking system plagued by unstable platforms, cashless ATMs, and reduced hours due to power outages can scarcely boast of having robust customer service channels.

Ultimately, today's announcement serves as a reminder that while there is a formal mechanism for lodging complaints in Cuba, there is no assurance that it will effectively meet the demands accrued from years of inefficiency, scarcity, and a banking system burdened by over six decades of state management.