The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) publishes every 6 months the most complained about banks and other financial firms. This is one way to help keep the banks on their toes as this is one area that no firm wants to place first. On a positive note, the FCA said that financial services firms recorded a 2.6% reduction in new complaints between January and June 2016 compared to the previous six months. The total number of complaints was 2.05 million.
See the rankings below.
The top five most complained about UK financial firms between January and June 2016 (excluding consumer credit) were:
- Barclays Bank Plc – 287,463 (an increase of 3% since the second half of 2015)
- Lloyds Bank PLC – 213,163 (a decrease of 7% since the second half of 2015)
- Bank of Scotland plc – 173,646 (a decrease of 5% since the second half of 2015)
- HSBC Bank Plc – 124,891 (an increase of 3% since the second half of 2015)
- National Westminster Bank Plc – 121,197 (a decrease of 10% since the second half of 2015)
By product group, the firms with the largest number of complaints opened in the first half of 2016 were:
Banking and credit cards
- Barclays Bank Plc 124,361
- National Westminster Bank Plc 75,736
- Lloyds Bank PLC 71,409
- HSBC Bank Plc 65,313
- Santander UK Plc 58,199
Home finance (mortgages and equity release products)
- Bank of Scotland plc 9,894
- Santander UK Plc 8,760
- HSBC Bank Plc 6,715
- Landmark Mortgages Limited 5,894
- Barclays Bank Plc 5,272
General insurance and pure protection (including payment protection insurance)
- Barclays Bank Plc 153,718
- Lloyds Bank PLC 140,669
- Bank of Scotland plc 115,121
- MBNA Limited 75,995
- HSBC Bank Plc 49,292
Decumulation, Life and Pensions
- The Prudential Assurance Company Limited 6,161
- Friends Life Limited 5,874
- The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited 4,711
- Aviva Life Services UK Limited 3,267
- Phoenix Life Limited 3,109
Investments
- Barclays Bank Plc 3,422
- HSBC Bank Plc 3,269
- Santander UK Plc 2,453
- Equiniti Financial Services Limited 1,498
- Financial Administration Services Limited 1,474