Four largest banking groups bring in 63% of complaints: FOS

The ombudsman answered 2.3 million enquiries from consumers in 2013 – or 40,000 every week, and settled ettled a record 518,778 disputes – more than double the number last year. 58% of these were settled in the consumer's favour.

Payment protection insurance made up 78% of all cases, with the number of PPI complaints rising 6% to 399,939 - outside of PPI complaints, however, 71% were settled within six months.

Reflecting on the year, Tony Boorman, chief ombudsman, said:

“It’s been an unprecedented twelve months for the ombudsman by anyone’s standards. Complaints continued at record levels – and we resolved over half a million cases during the year.

“But our work – and complaints handling in general – is about much more than closing cases and reporting big numbers.

"Each case we see tells a story about the lives and livelihoods of the individuals involved. In our experience, people are simply looking for honest, straightforward answers that show someone has listened and helped make sense of things.

“So whether it’s dealing with a complex pension complaint or problems with a mobile banking app, the financial services sector continues to face the challenge of putting the customer at the centre of their business."