The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today published complaints data from banks, insurers, lenders and other financial service providers and it showed a total of 2.05 million gripes were recorded between January and June 2016.

While the data shows a 2.6% reduction in new complaints compared with the previous six months, consumers received a total of £1.96bn in redress, however, this is 1% lower than the amount paid between July and December 2015.

PPI continued to be the most complained about product with more than 927,000 gripes noted, but this figure was 0.5% down from the previous half year.

Complaints about current accounts saw the largest reduction – 46,000 or 10% to nearly 408,000.

The top five most complained about firms in the six months to June, excluding consumer credit, were:

Sponsored

Wellness and wellbeing holidays: Travel insurance is essential for your peace of mind

Out of the pandemic lockdowns, there’s a greater emphasis on wellbeing and wellness, with

Sponsored by Post Office

1. Barclays – 287,463 (an increase of 3% since the second half of 2015)
2. Lloyds Bank – 213,163 (a decrease of 7% since the second half of 2015)
3. Bank of Scotland – 173,646 (a decrease of 5% since the second half of 2015)
4. HSBC – 124,891 (an increase of 3% since the second half of 2015)
5. Natwest – 121,197 (a decrease of 10% since the second half of 2015)

By product group, the firms with the largest number of complaints opened in the first half of 2016 were:

• Barclays received 124,361 complaints about banking and credit cards
• Bank of Scotland received 9,894 complaints about home finance (mortgages and equity release products)
• Barclays received 153,718 complaints about general insurance and pure protection (including payment protection insurance)
• The Prudential Assurance Company received 6,161 complaints about decumulation, life and pensions
• Barclays received 3,422 complaints about investments

Christopher Woolard, director of strategy and competition, said: “To see another six months of reduction in the total number of complaints is encouraging.

“Firms still need to continue to ensure they are doing all they can to reduce consumer dissatisfaction, but the figures show firms are taking our feedback seriously.”