the credit approval process should, for example, prevent over - indebtedness. the features and conditionalities of financial products should be clearly communicated. transparency in information and pricing should be the key principle in marketing and client dealings. client - focused banking further means treating consumers, regardless of their economic standing, with fairness, dignity and respect in all phases of transactions. this requires ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of client information. it also necessitates measures that prevent fraud or abuse. for example, staff training in good customer service is important. incentivizing ethical behavior can positively reinforce staff honesty and reliability. treating clients with respect at all times, of course entails quite a lot of patience and tolerance, but this will surely endear you more to your clients. another important element of client - focused banking is a straightforward mechanism for complaints resolution. we at the bangko sentral, encourage banks to institutionalize a system of redress that immediately addresses customer concerns. it is essential that your clients know where or who to complain to within your institution. bis central bankers ’ speeches complaints should be viewed in a positive light. the complaints or negative comments that you receive provide insight to what might be amiss in your products or policies, or to what you might be doing wrong in your operations. providing a formal avenue for complaints, even just a humble “ suggestion box ” in a corner of your branches, is one way for the bank to listen and learn directly from clients. information from complaints often carry implications or suggestions for the improvement of product design, delivery, branding, marketing, communications, even for governance and decision - making. as bill gates once said, “ your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. ” when you make your unhappy customers happy, you ultimately benefit from preserving a reputation that your bank cares. the bangko sentral has established a dedicated unit that attends to complaints against our supervised institutions, the financial consumer affairs group ( fcag ). among the complaints that fcag has received is on credit cards, because clients misunderstood or were unaware of the “ fine prints ” about the fees and charges on their credit card contracts. thus bsp circular 702 dated 15 december 2010 was issued to address, among others, the disclosure of all fees linked to credit card transactions. this is just a simple example of how customer complaints can inform policymaking. your institutions too, can leverage on complaints information in the same way. while you implement institutional procedures to ensure consumer protection and

and mortgage institutions will succeed in utilising the new conditions offered through secured bonds is that they listen to investors ’ wishes. first and foremost, this requires establishing a liquid secondary market for secured bonds. this requires willingness to issue large volumes of bonds in the primary market. maturities and constructions must also be tailored to investors ’ requirements. the institutions have not always had to work in this way in the domestic market. the composition of mortgage institutions ’ loan portfolios, and the state of the institutions ’ borrowers, are of course decisive factors in pricing the securities issued by the mortgage institutions. the mortgage institutions ’ lending, broken down into different types of property, shows that most of the lending, around 94 per cent, goes to financing ownership of single - family dwellings and apartment buildings. it is therefore primarily the developments in the household sector and in the housing market that are important when assessing the mortgage institutions ’ assets. the riksbank ’ s financial stability report contains analyses of the household sector and the property market. the most recent report observed that swedish households are continuing to increase their debt burden at a rapid rate. improved disposable incomes, low interest rates and high turnover in the housing market are some of the most important reasons behind this. households ’ debt in relation to disposable income has increased from around 90 per cent in the mid - 1990s to almost 120 per cent today. however, interest payments after tax on these loans have comprised around 5 per cent of disposable incomes, which can be compared with levels of almost 11 per cent at the beginning of the 1990s. both the debt ratio and the interest ratio are expected to continue to increase over the coming years. nevertheless, swedish households ’ ability to service their debt is relatively good. in addition to their disposable incomes, households also have assets that can be used as a buffer for increased borrowing costs. their total assets exceed their total debts. a special article studies household debt and households ’ ability to service this debt in different income classes. in the article the riksbank has examined how households would be affected by increased interest costs or rising unemployment. the results show that a significant part of the debt is accounted for by households that have both substantial assets and fairly sizable margins ; not even a sharp increase in interest rates or unemployment would affect their ability to service debt to an extent where it would seriously increase the risks in lending to swedish households. the risks in lending to the household sector therefore remain small, even when