The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published an overview of financial services firms’ complaints reported to it during 2023 H1 (1 January to 30 June 2023).

In the first half of 2023, financial services firms received 1.88 million opened complaints, an increase of 5% from 2022 H2 (1.80m).

The product groups that experienced an increase in their opened complaint numbers from 2022 H2 to 2023 H1 were the following: decumulation & pensions (20%), investments (18%), insurance & pure protection (6%), & banking and credit cards (3%).

The home finance product group saw a 10% reduction in opened complaints from 101,333 (2022 H2) to 91,469 (2023 H1).

Since 2016 H2, current accounts have remained the most complained about product. The number of current accounts opened complaints increased, from 500,371 in 2022 H2 to 509,923 in 2023 H1 (2%).

Noticeable increases in opened complaints can be seen in the following products: motor & transport from 238,009 in 2022 H2 to 278,034 in 2023 H1 (17%), credit cards from 188,200 in 2022 H2 to 201,925 in 2023 H1 (7%), property from 86,150 in 2022 H2 to 92,091 in 2023 H1 (7%), & savings (including ISAs) from 69,373 in 2022 H2 to 85,315 in 2023 H1 (23%).

The percentage of complaints upheld increased from 60% in 2022 H2 to 61% in 2023 H1. Excluding 2022 H2, the percentage of upheld complaints has been steadily rising since 2019 H2.

Redress payments went up by 4% from £228m in 2022 H2 to £236m in 2023 H1, but this is 22% below the 2022 H1 figure of £304m. This year-over-year decline is largely due to a 75% decrease in the redress paid for payment protection insurance complaints, decreasing from £32m in 2022 H1 to £8m in 2023 H1.

Home finance products have the highest figure for opened complaints per 1,000 products sold of 6.8 in both 2022 H2 & 2023 H1.