Under new Financial Services Authority (FSA) rules, individual financial services firms will be required to publish their complaints data by 31 August 2010 at the latest. The requirement only applies to banking groups, not individual brands, if they have more than 500 complaints over a six month period. The information required is limited to five very broad product categories and doesn’t tell consumers which firms handle complaints quickly. The FSA will be aggregating this data and publishing it on its website by the end of September.
Commenting on financial providers publishing complaints data for the first time, Oliver Morgans, financial specialist at Consumer Focus said:
‘Banks publishing complaints data is a welcome move towards real openness, but these new rules are too limited to allow customers to see the full picture. We would like to see all complaints data clearly broken down by individual brand and product, alongside details of how long it takes for complaints to be dealt with. This will help consumers compare the customer service offered by banks, before they decide where to put their hard-earned money.’
