The latest complaints data published by the regulator showed that financial services firms received over 2.1 million new complaints between January and June 2015.
While the number of complaints dropped by 2.1% compared to the six months prior, this was mainly driven by the fall in payment protection insurance (PPI). With PPI removed, complaints increased by 11.6% between the second half of 2014 and first half of 2015.
In terms of overall complaints, Barclays Bank received the most with an increase of 2.4% since the second half of 2014, rising to 283,221. Following Barclays were Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, NatWest and HSBC.
Bank of Scotland once again topped the most complained about list for home finance, covering mortgages and equity release, having been top of the Ombudsman’s most complained about list for mortgages in the first half of this year.
Attracting the most complaints in the home finance category was Santander, followed by Northern Rock Asset Management, HSBC and Barclays.
The FCA’s director of strategy and competition, Christopher Woolard, said firms needed to address the continuing rise in complaints.
“While the ongoing fall in PPI complaints is welcome, this is the second half-year running that we have seen complaints about banking products rise. It is clear that firms need to look at the causes for this rise and where necessary take action to address the causes of the trend.”
He added: “Ensuring good consumer outcomes should be at the heart of firms’ activities and we want to see complaints fall in the future as firms seek to ensure that consumers get the right products and services.”
Barclays was unavailable to comment at the time of writing.
