Following hot on the heels of Hector Sants’ decision to take three months out due to stress, Barclays was dealt a fresh blow as it emerged it had opened 370,733 complaints during the first half of 2013 and ranked at the top of the FCA’s most complained about companies.
But backing up a drive by its new boss Antony Jenkins to improve customer service, the number of complaints submitted to Barclays fell when compared to the second half of 2012. According to the FCA’s data, Barclays received 11% fewer complaints.
Rival lender Lloyds also ranked highly within the FCA’s complaints numbers, after it opened 253,735 customer claims. It ranked in second position in the FCA’s list, while MBNA came third with 237,103 gripes from consumers. Bank of Scotland was positioned fourth with 222,249 complaints and Santander UK was fifth, with 198,736 complaints opened.
Overall, the FCA said that 51% of the claims reported in the first half of 2013 were upheld by the firms involved, with £2.55bn in redress paid out to customers. The regulator did note, however, that across the board client claims had come down by around 500,000 between last year’s second half and the first six months of 2013.
