The financial arbiter last year cleared twice as many cases as in 2017.

Addressing a press conference, arbiter Reno Borg said financial service providers had shown more willingness to resolve minor cases but were generally reluctant to amicably conclude agreements in other cases.

He said that although improvement had been noted when it came to the mediation of such cases, there was clearly more scope to spread the mediation culture among consumers and financial services providers.

Dr Borg attributed the lack of engagement when it came to mediation to some complainants’ inflexibility to agree on a compromise and providers’ apprehension that an agreement reached by mediation may lead to further complaints.

The arbiter’s office, set up in 2016, handles a myriad of cases ranging from disputes over the opening of bank accounts to multi-million euro compensation requests.

Last year, Bank of Valletta was ordered by the arbiter to pay €3.4 million in compensation to 400 investors in a failed property fund. The bank has since appealed the decision.

Crystal Finance, a firm formerly owned by ex-central bank deputy governor Alfred Mifsud has also been rapped by the arbiter for miss-selling financial products.

Another investment company part-owned by PA board member Matthew Pace has similarly been found to have miss-sold products to vulnerable investors.

Despite only being set up three years ago, consumers were given a two-year window to file complaints dating back to 2004.

Dr Borg said the arbiter’s office would no longer be accepting to hear such cases as the time period to file claims on them had expired.

All cases filed with the arbiter’s office in 2016 and the vast majority of cases filed in 2017 have been concluded.

Dr Borg said 70 per cent of the cases filed with his office last year were about investment services.

The arbiter said he had a duty to flag cases where regulatory breaches emerged to the MFSA.