Financial services complaints drop 2.6%

Barclays tops the list of the most complained about firms with a 3% rise to 287,463, followed by Lloyds, Bank of Scotland, HSBC and NatWest.

The total number of complaints was 2.05 million, dropping to 1.12 million without the inclusion of PPI.

PPI continues to be the most complained about product, with the total number of complaints more or less unchanged at 0.93 million.

The total redress paid to consumers was £1.96 billion - less than 1% lower than the redress paid between July and December 2015.

All product categories saw a reduction in redress payments in the first half of 2016 from the second half of 2015, except for home finance products which increased by 2% and general insurance and pure protection (including PPI) which increased by 6%.

Home finance, which includes mortgages and equity release products, received the most amount of complaints relating to Bank of Scotland. Santander came in second place, followed by HSBC, Landmark Mortgages Limited, and Barclays Bank.

Christopher Woolard, Director of Strategy and Competition, said: “To see another six months of reduction in the total number complaints is encouraging.

“Firms still need to continue to ensure they are doing all they can to reduce consumer dissatisfaction, but the figures show firms are taking our feedback seriously”.