"It's been a very big year" for bank culture and conduct issues said NZ Banking Ombudsman Nicola Sladden, introducing the annual report which showed it was also a big year for  complaints against the Big Four banks' Kiwi subsidiaries. Complaints to the Ombudsman rose 21 percent over the previous year, with ANZ leading the list with 784 complaints made against it. Westpac followed with 585, then locally-owned Kiwibank on 474. ASB Bank was the subject of 452 complaints and BNZ 428."Banks came under closer scrutiny this year in the wake of the Australian royal commission into  banking and  reviews by New Zealand regulators," Sladden said. "We said we had not seen the  same type of systemic abuse [as in Australia] in the cases we see, but we know we only see the tip of the complaints iceberg.  We  have therefore begun  developing  a dashboard which  will  bring  together complaints data from our cases and the banks.This is due to go live in mid 2020."The Ombudsman said it was increasingly clear that older and disabled consumers can experience difficulty navigating their banking. There was a 136 per cent increase in cases involving powers of attorney compared to the last financial year, as well as a 118 percent increase in cases involving scams. Only 4 per cent of complaints to the Ombudsman went all the way to a formal investigation - which she described as a "positive" as it meant the rest of the cases were "resolved fairly, simply and speedily".  The Ombudsman's plans involve developing the complaints dashboard and sharing enhanced data and insights with banks.  Banks are being asked to look at four issues: unclear terms and conditions; employee browsing; forced account closures; and complaint resolution."We will be regularly engaging with banks at the most senior levels to influence positive change," Sladden said.