The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has obtained £22m in redress for customers through a scheme designed to increase the number of cases settled swiftly, with just under half going to victims of authorised scam complaints.
Its temporary outcomes code initiative was launched in November last year to encourage businesses to “proactively settle complaints more quickly”.
The FOS worked with over 90 businesses, who made 6.877 offers to customers. This included £10m in redress for authorised scam complaints, and over 2,000 people being refunded lost funds.
The firm said that the average offer made was around £3,200 per case.
The initiative has also helped resolve 4,800 customer complaints across e-money services, personal loans, motor finance and credit card purchases.
Natwest topped the list for offers made at 1,039, with Lloyds Banking Group came third at 834 offers made.
Santander took fourth position with 673 offers made, whilst Barclays came sixth at 503 offers made. HSBC made 405 offers, placing it seventh, and Nationwide made 175 offers made, putting it in eight position, while TSB came ninth at 157 offers made.
Nausicaa Delfas, chief executive and chief ombudsman of the FOS, said: “We are delighted that many financial businesses have responded to our initiative and have helped customers get their complaints resolved more quickly. This was just one of a range of initiatives we put in place to address the large backlog of complaints received during Covid-19.
“The backlog is now a third of what it was at the beginning of last year. We are now moving forward with our Action Plan to change and improve the Financial Ombudsman for the future.
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.
