If you want to check out how well British financial companies deal with their customers, head over to the Financial Ombudsman web site to see the latest information about complaints.
The ombudsman publishes the data every six months, broken down by financial firm and the type of complaint – plus the percentage of complaints the ombudsman upholds against the business.
During the first six months of 2013, the ombudsman received just over 327,000 complaints from customers – up 15% on the previous six months.
The majority of complaints (95%) were against 195 firms. The ombudsman polices complaints for more than 100,000 financial firms.
Most of the complaints (86%) were about payment protection insurance (PPI) and five financial services firms accounted for more than three-quarters of those cases.
Apart from PPI complaints, other gripes from customers were down 15% to 60,800. Complaints against banks dropped by a fifth and by 3% for insurance companies.
Chief ombudsman Natalie Ceeney said: “The service handled a record number of complaints during the first half of the year. PPI has dominated our work for some time now, but we are making real inroads into sorting out the problem, which has become the largest financial misspelling scandal ever.
Some firms are still taking their time to sort out PPI complaints
It’s also good to see that major financial businesses are starting to take notice of what we have to say about giving the right advice to customers and sorting out problems quickly and efficiently.”
View the complaints information on the Financial Ombudsman web site
Fund manager fined £7.2m
Meanwhile, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which polices financial firms to make sure they are keeping with strict conduct regulations, has fined leading fund manager Aberdeen Asset Managers and Aberdeen Fund Management £7.2 million for failing to protect client money held on deposit with third part banks between September 2008 and August 2011.
The FCA has also issued two warnings about bogus firms posing as regulated financial advisers:
Dealing with an unregulated firm
If you buy shares, save money or invest with an unregulated firm, you lose any protection offered by the Financial Ombudsman and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Broadly, you have no independent place to complain if the deal goes wrong and are unlikely to win any compensation.
Checking if a firm is regulated
Go to the Financial Services Register to check if a firm is regulated in the UK.
Reporting a suspected bogus adviser
Find out how to report unauthorised advisers on the FCA web site
