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FSA to penalise banks' customer care failures

Published on 28 Apr 2010 under category: legal

Five banks have been accused by the financial services watchdog for failing to handle customer complaints appropriately.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) published a review of banks' customer complaints handling procedures last September, ahead of making the publication of complaints data compulsory for all firms this April.

It was concerned about how consumers are often forced to submit the same complaint several times.

The FSA also identified a failure to build on previous resolutions to complaints.

In addition, it noted that the first-stage quality of complaint handling was poor and had significant repercussions for the rest of the investigation procedure.

Dan Waters, director of conduct risk at the watchdog, said: "While we found some good practice, there is clearly evidence of unacceptable standards of complaints handling in banks.

"Delivering change in this area is a major priority and we are determined to use all the tools available to us to ensure that banks comply with our rules."

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