The actions of a single adviser saw the number of complaints against Openwork upheld soar at the start of this year.
Typically Openwork has seen between 19 per cent and 25 per cent of complaints made against the restricted intermediary business upheld.
But during the first six months of this year Openwork was ordered to cough up compensation in 47 per cent of the 61 complaints brought to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
A spokesman for Openwork said it was a specific subset of complaints relating to a former adviser and reflecting advice given in 2010 that saw the uphold rate more than double.
According to the spokesman a deal was finalised between Openwork and the Financial Ombudsman Service in March and this is what "significantly affected" the current six month position.
The spokesman said: "Excluding these, our performance remains comparable with 2016 and our current advice process means that these complaints would not recur."
In terms of the nature of the complaints received against Openwork in the first six months of this year, one related to banking and credit, six were about general insurance and six were about payment protection insurance.
The majority of complaints were about mortgages, which saw 20 claims for compensation, life and pensions, which had 18 demands for cash, and 10 claims related to investments.
At the start of 2016 Openwork and Zurich signed an agreement that will see the global insurer divest its 25 per cent shareholding in the network.
Under the agreement, Zurich will dispose of its shares in Openwork by March 2020, by transferring them to Openwork’s other main shareholder, Openwork Partnership LLP, which represents the network of some 600 adviser firms and 3,000 advisers.
The deal will mark the culmination of a strategy set out by Zurich when Openwork was created in 2005.
emma.hughes@ft.com
