Aviva has topped the Financial Conduct Authority’s complaints list with the most upheld cases on both pensions and investments.
According to the regulator’s complaints data from July to December 2020, published today (April 29), Aviva Life Services had 8,438 upheld complaints relating to decumulation and pensions, and 2,299 upheld complaints relating to investments, the highest of the nearly 230 firms on the list.
The data showed Aviva Life Services had 12,695 open complaints relating to pensions and 3,383 on investments out of a total of 21,276 open complaints in the second half of 2020.
An Aviva spokesperson said: “Aviva takes complaints about its customer service very seriously and we are committed to providing an excellent service for all our customers.
"Where we fail to meet customers’ expectations, our first priority is to resolve the matter as quickly as possible and to act on the feedback we receive.
"Although we aim for no complaints, the ones we get represent just 1.56 per 1,000 life policies in the UK. Where a customer still has concerns, we advise them of their right to approach the Financial Ombudsman Service.”
Prudential came in second with regards to pensions with 6,045 upheld complaints, while Scottish Widows was third with 3,590 upheld complaints.
For investments, Barclays came in second with 2,028 upheld complaints with Prudential following with 1,627.
Meanwhile Sipp providers Curtis Banks and James Hay had 249 and 181 complaints in relation to pensions respectively.
Advice giant St James’s Place had a total of 431 upheld complaints against pensions and 341 in relation to investments.
In total, the firm received 720 complaints about pensions and 614 on investments out of a total of 1,444 complaints.
More than 3,000 firms submitted complaints data to the FCA for the second half of 2020.
The regulator found that these firms received 2.19m complaints in the second half of 2020, 26 per cent lower than the year before, which is the lowest levels recorded since the second half of 2016.
The most complained about products in the second half of 2020 were current accounts (23 per cent of all complaints), PPI (12 per cent), credit cards (11 per cent), other general insurance products (11 per cent) and motor and transport insurance (9 per cent).
The FCA's list only includes firms which received 500 or more complaints in a six month period, or 1,000 or more in a year.
amy.austin@ft.com
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