FSA publish complaints data

[EXC]

FSA publishes industry-level complaints data to increase transparency



Dan Waters

Transparency is an important regulatory tool.




FSA/PN/116/2009
3 September 2009
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has today for the first time published aggregate figures showing how many complaints regulated firms have received and how they have dealt with them.
As part of the FSA’s wider commitment to publishing more information about firms and industry sectors, this data covers:

• the volume of complaints firms have received, by product type and cause of the complaint, e.g. delays and misleading advice; and

• how firms have handled complaints, including the speed of complaints-handling and the proportion of complaints that have been upheld by firms.

The data published today covers 2006-2008 and indicates that the overall number of complaints has increased by 5.7% over this period. The speed of firms’ complaints handling and the proportion of complaints upheld by firms remained fairly stable over the period - at the end of 2008, 10% of complaints took longer than eight weeks to resolve and 40% of complaints were decided in customers’ favour.
Dan Waters, the FSA’s director of retail policy and conduct risk, said:
"Transparency is an important regulatory tool. Publishing this information will mean that consumers and firms can now see how many complaints the industry receives and how it deals with them. This is stage one of our drive to say more about how the industry handles complaints and builds on our recent proposals, currently out for consultation, about the publication of firm-specific data.
"We expect firms to treat customers fairly by dealing with complaints promptly and efficiently. We are focusing even more attention, particularly through intensive supervision, on ensuring that firms are dealing with complaints properly."
The FSA plans to publish aggregate data covering the first half of 2009 in October, and will then publish updates every six months after that.
This industry-level information complements the FSA’s proposals to publish firm-specific complaints data, set out in July, which would enable people to see how individual firms are handling complaints.
Notes for editors

1. The aggregate complaints data for 2006-2008.
2. The FSA’s consultation paper (CP09/21) ‘Transparency as a Regulatory Tool and Publication of Complaints Data, including Feedback to DP08/3’, which included proposals on the publication of firm-specific complaints data, was published on 9 July 2009.
3. The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has also been working on its own transparency proposals and will publish firm-specific data about the complaints it handles in September.
4. The FSA regulates the financial services industry and has four objectives under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000: maintaining market confidence; promoting public understanding of the financial system; securing the appropriate degree of protection for consumers; and fighting financial crime.
5. The FSA aims to promote efficient, orderly and fair markets, help retail consumers achieve a fair deal and improve its business capability and effectiveness.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/...2009/116.shtml
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This looks promising:

''In particular, the FSA is reviewing the wider implications process with the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Office of Fair Trading in order to identify issues better before they lead to a large number of complaints and, where there is a widespread issue, ensure that consumers receive redress swiftly and effectively. The Government is also consulting on proposals in this area, including a change to the Financial Services and Markets Act to make the power for facilitating redress for a large number of consumers more effective and easier to apply in a broader range of circumstances.''

[Amethyst]

Re: FSA publish complaints data

ooo have they published now? for some reason I didnt think this was going to happen until October

Humph its not firm specific ? http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/complaints_data.xls (excel)

[EXC]

Re: FSA publish complaints data

Yes the links to the complaints data are lower down the page here

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/Pages/Library/...ta/index.shtml

No prizes for guessing what you'll be doing this afternoon then?

[Amethyst]

Re: FSA publish complaints data

hmmmm maybe - though i'm annoyed already lol.

It quite obvious from the figures that current account have the highest number of complaints by quite a massive proportion

They break it down a bit

Complaints in Overcharging on Banking and Loans 2008 H2 - 184,182

Banking and loans covers -
Cash Deposit ISA
Credit Card
Current Account
Deposit/Savings
Other Loans

Compaints about Current accounts in Banking and Loans 2008 H2 - 536,405


So that means basically at least 350,000 complaints about current accounts weren't about overcharging ?

They don't break it down to Overcharging in current accounts in banking and loans - if you see what i mean) so i assume we could ASK for further breakdowns ?

Maybe I'm too particular and want it all on a plate lol.

Between H2 2006 and H1 2007, the number of complaints about Banking and Loans products rose by 744,253 (122%) while the number of complaints relating to overcharging and poor customer service increased by 470,542 (259%) and 138,125 (71%) respectively (table 2.1 and table 2.3). In the following period this trend was reversed as the total number of complaints about Banking and Loans products fell by 540,054 (40%). In part the decline reflects the fact that in July 2007 the FSA issued a 'waiver' to some firms from some of its complaints handling rules.3

[Amethyst]

Re: FSA publish complaints data

Millions make finance complaints


Individual firms will publish their own complaint details from next year

More than nine million individual complaints were made to firms in the financial services industry in the 2006-2008 period, figures have shown.
Banking and loans accounted for more than half the formal complaints made to financial companies in that period.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published the complaints figures for the first time.
During the second half of 2008, 40% were being settled in the customers' favour.
Individual companies will start to publish their own complaints data from July 2010.
"Publishing this information will mean that consumers and firms can now see how many complaints the industry receives and how it deals with them," said FSA director Dan Waters.
"We expect firms to treat customers fairly by dealing with complaints promptly and efficiently," he added.
'Unhappy customers'
The total number of complaints rose from 2,727,000 in 2006 to 3,411,000 in 2007 before dropping back last year to 2,903,000.
Financial firms simply aren't treating consumers well enough


Which?

The number of complaints for both 2007 and 2008 would have been higher but for the fact that the FSA told regulated firms in the middle of 2007 they they did not have to include new complaints about charges for unauthorised overdrafts levied by banks and building societies.
More than 1.2 million of these complaints have since been "parked" until the issue is settled by the courts.
"It's a poor reflection on the industry that there are so many unhappy customers out there," said Which? personal finance campaigner Phil Jones.
"Financial firms simply aren't treating consumers well enough and things must change if the industry is to rebuild its reputation," he added.
Current accounts
The FSA's figures were dominated by complaints about current accounts, driven by demands for the return of overdraft fees, which reached 3,513,000 over the three-year period.
"The spike in the total number of complaints in the first half of 2007 is the result of a large increase in complaints about overcharging and poor customer service in relation to banking and loans products at that time," said the FSA.
There were 908,000 complaints about the mis-selling of mortgage endowments during the period, although their number tailed off dramatically during the three years.
Complaints about credit cards came a close third at 745,000.
But a surge in complaints about payment protection insurance (PPI) saw the number of complaints about general insurance and "pure protection" policies double, from 62,000 to 127,000, between the first half of 2006 and the second half of 2008.
In April this year, the Financial Services Ombudsman (FOS), which deals with complaints that firms cannot settle themselves, accused the industry of treating complainants in a "dismal" and "cynical" fashion.
The Ombudsman, Walter Merricks, said many firms were being deliberately unhelpful.
"Some in the financial services industry - currently facing significant business challenges - appear to be taking the jaundiced view that having a large number of complaining customers is just an unfortunate fact of life," he said.
"So they seem to be geared up simply to dispose of complaints at minimum cost - and with minimal attention to the individual facts and circumstances."
Banks and insurers
Banks received the most complaints of any of the businesses regulated by the FSA.
Last year they were on the end of 1,926,000 complaints - 66% of 2008's total.
In second place were insurance companies with 427,140 complaints - 15% of the total.
The vast majority of complaints were settled within eight weeks with, by the end of last year, just 10% taking longer to deal with.
The proportion of complaints actually upheld by the financial services companies varied from one half-year period to the next.
The success rate was 34% in the first half of 2007, but 49% in the first half of 2006.
Last year, the firms most likely to admit making a mistake were building societies, who settled 59% of complaints in their customers' favour.

[Amethyst]

Re: FSA publish complaints data

ABI hits out at FSA complaints data

Nicole Blackmore - 03-Sep-2009
The Association of British Insurers has hit out at the FSA, claiming to has failed to put its aggregate complaints data into context to reflect the wider insurance market.


The FSA today published the first of regular sets of data covering complaint numbers to regulated firms.The data showed a sharp fall in complaints against advisers and an increase in complaints against banks.
ABI director of consumer strategy Maggie Craig says while it is important to provide consumers with meaningful information to help them make financial choices, it must be presented in context.
She says: “It is important that any published data is clear, fair and not misleading. The FSA’s aggregate data does not reflect the fact that there are 160 million general insurance and 82 million life insurance policies in force. Overall, that's just one complaint for every 1,200 policies during the second half of 2008.
“However, the insurance industry acknowledges that more work needs to be done to improve performance, and the ABI is leading the way on initiatives to achieve this.”
Craig adds that company-specific data, to be published by the Financial Ombudsman Service and the FSA later this year, will not be valuable to consumers.
She says: “The current format to be used by the FOS, and later the FSA, for publishing company-specific data will not help consumers because it doesn't allow them to compare the performance of different companies for specific products, such as motor or home insurance, on a like for like basis.
“Without this level of detail, the published data will be of no real help to consumers and, without the right context, we remain very concerned that it might even be misleading.”