Firms that receive 500 or more complaints in a six-month period will have to publish data showing the number of complaints that they opened and closed, the percentage closed within eight weeks and the percentage upheld.
Firms will need to present this information in five product areas – banking, home finance, general insurance and pure protection, life and pensions, and investments – twice a year to the regulator. The first set of data will be published in September.
Sheila Nicoll, director of conduct policy at the FSA, said: “We believe that this will help to improve the way in which firms treat their customers and provide incentives for firms to deal more effectively with complaints when they are received.”
Darren Cohen, mortgage consultant at LRG, said he hoped firms would be given the chance to defend themselves and provide a right to reply.
He said: “It is right that a firm should be brought to the public’s attention if it has received many complaints. However, it would be unfair if it could not provide background information.”
