The latest figures, which cover the first six months of 2014 and list only those firms with at least 500 new complaints in that period, included a single advisory business – Sesame.
Sesame, the largest distributor of financial services in the UK, has been an ever-present in the FCA data tables since the watchdog began publishing them in 2010.
But, until recently, other advisory groups also used to appear. Openwork, the UK’s largest restricted advice network, appeared in three consecutive reporting periods between 2012 and last year, while Towry and, on one occasion in 2012, Personal Touch Financial Services, have also registered on the FCA tables.
In the first six months of 2012, there were a total of 2,156 new complaints against two advisory businesses (Openwork and Sesame); in the following half-year, the total reached 3,211 across three groups (Personal Touch, Openwork and Sesame); in the following six months, the total was 2,212 (Sesame and Openwork).
Recent entries indicate adviser complaints have returned to levels before 2012 when consumer gripes started to increase.
The last two reporting periods – covering the second half of last year and the first half of this year – show fewer complaints, at 1,356 and 1,446 respectively. Sesame is the only firm named.
The data does not definitively show declining claims against adviser firms. There may be a wider sample of firms with fewer than 500 new complaints (rendering them ineligible to appear), but which, when combined, comprise a greater total. Businesses that receive fewer than 500 do not have to report that to the regulator.
But the trend does appear to be backed up by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), which only handles complaints left unsettled between complainant and firm.
Like the FCA, the service doesn’t list all firms that have received claims. Rather, it only includes thoose with at least 30 new cases in a six-month period.
Yet it reported a fall in complaints in September, when only one advice firm received more claims than in the previous half year.
This followed FOS figures from March, which showed the proportion of claims found in favour of the adviser had risen.
Overall, the latest FCA figures indicated a fall in complaints for all products of 5% compared with H2 2013. Barclays, Fidelity and HSBC led the investment complaints list.
