More than 2.5 million complaints were made against Britain’s financial companies in the last six months of 2013 alone. Many of the country’s largest banks were required to deal with thousands of phone calls and online complaints from customers on a daily basis.
The country’s most complained about bank was Barclays, which managed to rack up over 309,000 complaints during the second half of 2013. Lloyds Bank ranked second in total complaints, fielding over 256,000 disgruntled customers over the six months to the end of the year. Bank of Scotland and National Westminster closely followed.
While banks remain the most complained about companies in the UK, total financial industry complaints have fallen over the past year. According to new data from the Financial Conduct Authority, complaints related to financial firms fell 15 per cent in the second half of 2013, compared to the first half of 2012.
Despite remaining the country’s most complained about bank, Barclays managed to reduce the number of complaints filed by its customers by 17 per cent. NatWest and Bank of Scotland also reduced complaints, by 5pc and 18 per cent respectively. Only Lloyds Bank saw an increase in complaints – a modest one per cent uptick.
Experts believe that the total number of complaints filed against banks declined due to the reduced scale of the PPI scandal. Although PPI complaints continue to account for more than half of all complaints filed against banks, the number of complaints of direct relation to PPI declined by 22 per cent over the course of the year.
Outside the retail banking industry, financial services companies continued to rack up complaints. Hargreaves Lansdown, the company which experienced a technical failure during the Royal Mail flotation, was the most complained about investment firm in the UK. Barclays Stockbrokers too second place in the investment category.
FCA regulations require companies that receive more than 500 complaints in a six month period to publicly publish the information. Although banks remain the most complained about businesses in the country, the declining volume of complaints is evidence that customers are growing less frustrated with the financial sector.
