Lloyds tops complaints league

The state-backed giant's companies generated a total of 288,717 complaints about issues like poor service, bad advice, and charges over the past six months, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said.

Fellow high street giants Barclays and Santander were the next biggest offenders, with 250,667 and 244,978 complaints respectively. It is the first time the FSA has detailed the findings by firm.

State-controlled outfit Royal Bank of Scotland - whose businesses include RBS and NatWest - drew nearly 140,000 complaints, while HSBC attracted 81,271.

Altogether bank and building society customers made a total of 1.25 million complaints, the FSA said, up 5 per cent on the same period last year.

Among the data published by the FSA was the proportion of complaints dealt with within eight weeks.

Lloyds TSB secured a completion rate of 97 per cent for customers, while Barclays dealt with 91 per cent of cases within the period.

Santander closed only 46 per cent of complaints within eight weeks.

The FSA is proposing changes to its complaints handling rules to help drive up standards.

The proposals include making banks identify a senior manager responsible for complaints handling and creating remedies for common problems.

Officials also want to stop banks sending letters which reject complaints but fail to explain that customers can challenge them and go to the Financial Ombudsman Service.