Sesame Bankhall Group has topped the Financial Ombudsman Service’s (Fos) list of most complained about advisory firms over the past six months once again.
According to Fos data, the network had 160 complaints between January and June referred to the service.
A total of 73 of these complaints were about life and pensions and decumulation, while 19 were regarding investments, 22 were about payment protection insurance and 19 were about mortgages and home finance.
Openwork was the intermediary that came second to Sesame on the complaints list, with 80 complaints, of which 22 were about life and pensions and decumulation, 12 were for investments, 19 were payment protection insurance (PPI) and 15 were mortgages.
St James’s Place followed with 58 complaints, 26 of which were life and pensions and decumulation, 22 of which were investments, two were for PPI and three were for mortgages and home finance.
Appearing fourth on the list for advice firms was Positive Solutions, and fifth was Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management.
According to Fos, PPI continued to dominate the ombudsmen’s workload, making up 54 per cent of new complaints it received for all companies, with 91,381 new cases this period, compared with 92,667 in the previous period.
Chief ombudsman Caroline Wayman said: “The data we have published about complaints over the last decade or so helps to illustrate a period that’s been challenging and volatile for many financial businesses.
“But the current signs are that complaints are now broadly levelling off and moving onto a more even keel.
“Lots of factors can influence the complaints we see, from more people knowing more about their rights when things go wrong, to external factors such as volatility in the stock market or extreme weather conditions.
“That is why I believe it’s important we continue to share our insights into complaints to help businesses avoid the mistakes of the past.”
Lloyds Bank was the company that received the most complaints, with 22,241 and in second place overall was Bank of Scotland (22,090) with Barclays Bank (18,603) in third place.
The average uphold rate was 48 per cent across the individual businesses.
ruth.gillbe@ft.com
