The Financial Ombudsman Service has recently announced that the most complained about banks over the last half of 2011 included both Barclays and Lloyds TSB.
As the chief investigator of unresolved complaints between consumers and retail establishments such as personal and business bank account providers, revealed that more than 106,000 new complaints were made against banks in the UK in 2011’s second half. Financial institutions in the UK experienced a rise of 41 per cent in the number of complaints made against them, with 2010’s 141,449 figure dwarfed by last year’s total of 256,118.
Lloyds alone received more than 20,000 complaints by the end of the year, though these figures take into account the Black Horse, Bank of Scotland, and Halifax arms of the banking group. Around 46 per cent of the complaints pertained to PPI.
Lloyds executives were quick to point out that the the number of complaints received by the group in the second half of 2011 was down by nearly half, as the Ombudsman received nearly 38,000 complaints about the group in 2011’s first half. The high street giant also said that, with its 30 million retail banking customers, the larger customer base naturally results in higher complaints volumes.
Lloyds chief executive, António Horta-Osório, remarked that the group has aspirations to be the best choice for customers, leading it to strive for the highest service standards. The chief executive expressed his pleasure with the overall reduction in complaints figures, but he did say that the bank needs to continue to improve.
2012’s complaints target for Lloyds is to have less than 1.3 complaints for every 1,000 bank accounts, Mr Horta-Osório also commented.