HML set to benefit over complaints handling as banking sector backs down

Jeff Quilter, director of strategy at the Skipton Building Society subsidiary, said HML had the capacity and experience to help lenders meet the administrative burden.

Yesterday the British Bankers’ Association said it would not appeal against a High Court challenge it lost over new Financial Services Authority rules on PPI mis-selling being applied retrospectively. Mr Quilter said: “The financial services industry has collectively backed down... And while this is good news for consumers, it‘s also potentially good news for jobs in the region.

“We’ve already seen adverts for specialist complaints handlers appearing online as organisations gear up for what will be a massive exercise.

“It‘s going to mean those with the right skills are in demand as organisations compete to get the best talent to manage this administrative challenge.

“But it‘s also potentially going to leave those organisations who weren’t expecting a final decision about a redress exercise until later in the year short on the skills they need to get the job done. HML specialises in financial outsourcing and has the people, experience and scale to help organisations who haven’t got the in-house capacity to undertake this exercise.”

The level of banks’ exposure has been emerging since last week when Lloyds Banking Group said it was pulling out of any further legal action and setting aside £3.2bn to compensate customers.

Yesterday it was joined by Barclays, which expects claims to cost £1bn, while HSBC, which stopped selling the policies in 2007, has made a provision of $440m (£269m). The Royal Bank of Scotland also confirmed that it would not be pursuing further legal action, although it has yet to put a figure on how much compensation it is likely to have to pay out.

Unofficial estimates based on the group’s market share put the figure at around £1bn.