The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released its complaints data for the period from 1 July to 31 December 2023.
In the second half of 2023, UK financial services firms received 1.87 million complaints, down 1% from the first half of 2023 (1.89 million). Since the peak of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) in 2020, complaints have remained relatively stable between 1.8 and 2 million.
The product groups that showed an increase in their number of complaints were:
- bank and credit cards – up 3.2% from 847,497 (1H 2023) to 874,568 (2H 2023)
- Home finance – up 3.7% from 91,470 (1H 2023) to 94,822 (2H 2023)
- investments – up 3.4% from 59,417 (1st half 2023) to 61,446 (2nd half 2023)
The product groups that saw a decrease in their number of complaints were:
- de-accumulation and pensions – down 2.8% from 88,058 (1st half 2023) to 85,547 (2nd half 2023)
- insurance and net protection – down 5.8% from 800,253 (1H 2023) to 753,192 (2H 2023)
There have been increases in the 3 biggest products to complain about:
- Current accounts rose 1% from 509,923 in the first half of 2023 to 515,336 in the second half of 2023
- cars and transport increased by 1% from 278,148 in the first half of 2023 to 281,082 in the second half of 2023
- Credit cards grew by 7.5% from 201,925 in the first half of 2023 to 217,032 in the second half of 2023, which follows recent fluctuation trends
Most other products saw a decrease in the number of complaints.
The percentage of complaints accepted decreased from 61% in the first half of 2023 to 58% in the second half of 2023.
In the 2nd half of 2023 the total amount of the redress was £259 million. This is 10% higher than 1H 2023 (£236m).