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LONDON (Alliance News) - Complaints about packaged bank accounts drove a 45% increase in complaints about financial products other than payment protection insurance in the first half of 2015, the UK's Financial Ombudsman Service said on Tuesday.
Complaints about products other than PPI, a type of insurance that was widely mis-sold in the UK, amounted to 79,550 in the first six months of 2015.
Chief ombudsman Caroline Wayman said that claims managers have been driving the "substantial increase" in complaints about packaged bank accounts.
"Nobody wants 'another PPI'. This is why we're working closely with businesses, claims companies and their regulators, to make sure PPI is sorted as fairly and as quickly as possible for everyone involved ? and that lessons are learned to prevent anything like this happening again. If we can all achieve this, then the next seven years should be a different story," Wayman said.
Packaged bank accounts are also known as 'paid-for' accounts, and attachproducts such as travel insurance or mobile phone insurance to a bank account. They usually charge a fee every month or on an annual basis.
There were 94,091 new PPI complaints, a 10% fall compared with the previous period.
The PPI scandal has been a costly affair for the the UK banking industry, costing in excess of GBP28 billion in administration and compensation. Barclays PLC, HSBC Holdings PLC, Lloyds Banking Group PLC and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, the FTSE 100 banks that do significant business in the UK, have all been affected.
The ombudsman said it took on 173,994 new cases in total in the first half of 2015, an 8% increase on the previous period.
The average uphold rate, which refers to cases in which the ombudsman finds in the consumer's favour, was 57% in the six months.
By Samuel Agini; samagini@alliancenews.com; @samuelagini
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