New FCA complaints data: 3.32 million complaints about financial services in the first six months of 2017

In total, 3.32 million complaints were recorded by firms in the first half of 2017. This compares to 3.04 million in the second half of 2016. Since June 2016, firms have been required to report data to us in a new way which has increased the number of complaints reported. This is the first half year in which all firms are reporting under the new rules.

The information on firm level complaints numbers can be found here[1].

43% of all complaints made during the first half of 2017 were related to ‘advising, selling and arranging’, compared to 59% in the first half of 2016. While ‘general administration and customer service’ accounted for 27% of all complaints in the first half of 2016, they now account for 38% of all complaints.

Payment protection insurance (PPI) continues to be the most complained about product making up a third of all complaints in the first half of 2017. The total number of PPI complaints increased by 24% from 899,000 to 1.11m. Excluding PPI, the number of complaints was 2.21 million.

The total redress paid to consumers was £1.99 billion in the first half of 2017. 82% of the total redress payments are for PPI complaints.

Christopher Woolard, Executive Director of Strategy and Competition, said:

“We now require firms to report all complaints which gives us a fuller picture of where the industry might not be meeting customer needs. But even allowing for the change in reporting rules, and some progress made, the numbers are still significant.

“Firms need to do all they can to reduce complaints and ensure that they are working in the best interests of consumers.”

Further firm-level data, including the complaints context data, are available on the FCA’s downloadable tables[2].

Notes to editors

1. Firm specific complaints data[1]
2. Aggregate commentary[3]
3. The FCA collates and publishes complaints data every six months, alongside aggregated figures covering the whole industry. The data, which can be found on the FCA website, are presented in two different formats: aggregate data showing the overall number of complaints made, and firm-specific data showing figures for individual firms reporting 500 or more opened complaints.
4. In July 2015, the FCA published new rules on changes to its complaint handling rules. The reforms have improved the complaints systems and procedures, making them less bureaucratic for firms, easier for consumers and has provided us with improved intelligence on complaints. 
5. Our analysis is based on the data supplied to us by firms in the new return and as such may be subject to possible reporting errors as firms get used to submitting the new data to us. We have carried out checks to seek to identify and correct errors where we are able to.
6. On 1 April 2013, the FCA became responsible for the conduct supervision of all regulated financial firms and the prudential supervision of those not supervised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA).
7. The FCA has an overarching strategic objective of ensuring the relevant markets function well. To support this it has three operational objectives: to secure an appropriate degree of protection for consumers; to protect and enhance the integrity of the UK financial system; and to promote effective competition in the interests of consumers.
8. Find out more information about the FCA[4].