The amount paid in compensation by banks relating to mis-sold interest rate swaps as a result of a review by the Financial Conduct Authority passed £81m in November, a five-fold rise on the figure in October as previously sluggish compensation processes finally pick up momentum.
According to new figures from the regulator, over three-quarters of 18,400 people invited to join the review have opted to do so.
While the only 34 per cent of compliance assessments have been completed, 95 per cent of those completed were non-compliant, broadly in line with the rates of non-compliance found since August.
The FCA oversees the scheme, but the assessments themselves are undertaken by the bank and independent reviewers, which sign them off and challenge any offers that are unreasonable.
The £81.2m paid out so far has been paid out to only 547 customers who have accepted the offer, out of 6,100 who are in the redress phase. Of those 6,100, the FCA has completed redress determinations of 3,300 and sent determination letters to 2,600.
In November, the number of redress offers accepted (547) outpaced the number of outcomes where no redress was due (438) for the first time since the review began.
In September the regulator assured customers that it was making headway in its review, with banks having at that time collectively paid out just £500,000 in 10 redress offers, six months after most began to review sales.
Clive Adamson, director of supervision at the FCA, said: “I welcome the fact that these figures show the pace of the banks’ reviews continuing to increase and more businesses and customers are starting to receive compensation payments, but we will keep the pressure on to ensure they continue to move as quickly as they can.
“Last month we wrote to the CEOs of the four major banks to re-assert our expectation that redress should be delivered to customers quickly and to agree practical ways to speed up the process. The banks’ responses have been positive, with three of the four major banks saying to us they now expect to complete all initial redress determinations by May 2014.
“I am also pleased that eight out of the nine banks in the review have now agreed to split payments for initial redress and consequential loss. This change should simplify and speed up the process for paying basic redress to customers.”
