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Barclays Publishes FSA Complaints Data H1 2012

31 Aug 2012 11:00 GMT

Underlying complaints*1 continue to fall as Barclays drives down complaints by addressing root causes

Total complaints down nine per cent year on year but rise two per cent in six months driven by a surge in complaint volumes from Claims Management Companies (CMCs)

Strong action plan in place to cut complaints in H2 through relentless simplification which has cut complaints by 55 per cent in the retail bank

Barclays Bank PLC today publishes customer complaint numbers for the first half of 2012 (1 January to 30 June) which confirm a nine per cent year on year reduction in total complaints (from 177,871 H1 2011 to 161,908 H1 2012 excluding General Insurance and Pure Protection).

When looking at the period for the last six months these figures show a small two per cent increase in total complaints (up from 158,492 H2 2011 to 161,908 H1 2012 excluding General Insurance and Pure Protection), largely driven by a 134 per cent surge in fee structure complaints from CMCs in the credit cards business. Despite this small rise we believe that the significant customer service improvements we are making will continue to reduce complaint numbers in future.

Barclays continues to substantially drive down underlying complaint volumes through our relentless simplification exercise to address root causes and re-engineer processes. Underlying complaints in the UK retail bank are down 28 per cent in the first half of the year, and 55 per cent since we began this exercise eighteen months ago. In our credit cards business underlying complaints are also down 14 per cent in the first half of the year.

Antony Jenkins, Barclays Group Chief Executive, said:

“Barclays has made significant advances in putting the customer at the heart of our business and we continue to break new ground; launching new technologies and remaining extremely competitive across our entire product range, which is attracting more customers.

“Clearly a small rise in complaint volumes is disappointing and not the direction we wanted to be heading. Our customers can be reassured that today’s results are a small blip on a path that has already seen complaint numbers reducing nine per cent year on year, and by nearly 100,000 over two years.

“Our goal is to cut complaints further as we aim to get it right first time, every time, for our customers.”

Barclays has appointed Paul Maddox as Managing Director of Customer Service to further accelerate progress in tackling the root causes of complaints and drive forward customer service transformation. Paul Maddox, said:

“Complaints from Claims Management Companies have significantly distorted our first half numbers with over a third of their complaints proving to be vexatious, which slows down the speed in which we can deal with genuine claims, and negatively impacts our FSA reportable complaint volumes. Setting these aside we are on the right track in addressing the root cause of complaints, and by preventing the need for our customers to complain in the first place we continue to deliver substantial and sustainable reductions.”

Barclays has initiated a number of improvements to reduce complaints in the second half of 2012 to include:

· Providing better customer communication to negate complaints through greater transparency for example by providing SMS notifications to keep customers informed about changes of address, PIN reminders and replacement cards.

· Changing policies that cause complaints for example by ending the practice of ‘trailing interest’ to prevent cleared credit card purchase balances from incurring interest the following month. *2

· Dealing with problems swiftly and effectively by empowering staff to put things right at first point of contact for example by creating a dedicated team of highly trained specialist complaint handlers to tackle the most complex complaints.

More broadly Barclays has been improving service by putting the customer at the heart of our business, products and services including:

· Industry leading Barclays Pingit app and Barclays Mobile Banking app which help people to do their banking, track payments, and to send and receive money wherever they are.

· 88 per cent of Barclays customers are now within 10 miles of a branch equipped with a free and instant replacement debit card machine.

· Online account opening speeded up to 24 hours, and 95 per cent of business accounts now opened within 24 hours when it used to take five days.

A significant exception to the progress we are making is PPI complaints which make up the majority of the General Insurance and Pure Protection category, which have risen by 128 per cent in the first half to 280,358. We are working hard to process claims as quickly as possible and whilst claims volumes remain somewhat unpredictable, we have seen a decrease in flow over recent weeks. We continue to treat genuine PPI claims as a top priority.

Notes to Editors:

1. The 134 per cent surge in CMC complaints targeting Barclaycard’s fee structure has resulted in an overall four per cent rise in the banking category to 152,372 (from 146,316 H2 2011). Changes to how we justify the application of our charges, following a review, mean that we now reject the majority of these complaints as invalid, and will continue to do so. Currently over a third of claims received from CMCs are either duplicates or claims where no product was held. These complaints from CMCs distort the true picture of real complaint numbers and slow down Barclays ability to deal with genuine claims.

2. A full breakdown of FSA reportable complaints is available on our website: www.barclays.com/complaints

BARCLAYS BANK PLC*1

H1 2010

H2 2010

H1 2011

H2 2011

H1 2012

FSA Product Category

No. of complaints opened

No. of complaints opened

No. of complaints opened

No. of complaints opened

No. of complaints opened

change H1 2012 vs H2 2011

change H1 2012 vs H1 2011

Banking

240,883

205,151

162,611

146,316

152,372

+4%

-6%

Home Finance

9,384

8,580

8,894

6,837

4,835

-29%

-46%

General Insurance and Pure Protection

38,187

59,003

73,692

122,992

280,358

+128%

+280%

Decumulation, life & pensions

1,829

1,530

2,456

2,055

1,971

-4%

-20%

Investments

2,016

2,051

3,910

3,284

2,730

-17%

-30%

TOTAL Including General Insurance and Pure Protection (PPI)

292,299

276,315

251,563

281,484

442,266

+57%

+76%

TOTAL Excluding General Insurance and Pure Protection (PPI)

254,112

217,312

177,871

158,492

161,908

+2%

-9%

*1 Underlying complaints:

Whilst we recognise the vast majority complaints are absolutely valid and are working hard to resolve them, we believe complaint numbers that exclude PPI complaints and spurious complaints from CMCs more closely reflect the improvement to the day to day experience of our customers. PPI complaints, and complaints from CMCs, on the whole relate to historical activity rather than current performance and excluding them gives a much clearer picture of the progress we are making. Over a third of claims received from CMCs are either duplicates or claims where no product was held which slows down Barclays ability to deal with genuine claims.

*2 Trailing Interest – is interest charged on outstanding credit card purchase balances between the bank issuing the statement and the payment being made.

Barclays Bank PLC:

Barclays is required to publish FSA reportable complaints for all of its legal entities that received more than 500 complaints in the six month period, which were not resolved by close of business on the next business day with ‘customer acceptance’ of the proposed resolution. Barclays has five publishable legal entities to include Barclays Bank PLC, Firstplus Financial Group PLC, Clydesdale Financial Services Limited, Barclays Stockbrokers Limited and Woolwich Plan Managers Limited.

Barclays Bank PLC accounts for 97 per cent of all UK FSA reportable complaints and includes the following; UK Retail and Business Banking, Barclaycard (to include Egg credit card assets and MBNA Small Business Credit Card Portfolio), Barclays Wealth, Barclays Corporate, The Woolwich, Solution Personal Finance Ltd, Standard Life Cash Savings & Mortgages, Standard Life Cash Savings and Standard Life Mortgages.

The narrative we provide relates to Barclays Bank PLC which accounts for 97 per cent of all Barclays UK FSA Reportable Complaints and is consistent with how the FSA publishes firm complaints data on its website.

Barclays provides a full breakdown of all FSA reportable complaints data for all of its publishable legal entities on its website at www.barclays.com/complaints. On an aggregated basis the Barclays Group had 454,675 FSA Reportable Complaints in H1 2012.

Complaint definition:

For the purposes of the complaints detailed in this report, a complaint is defined as being an expression of dissatisfaction which has not been resolved by close of business on the business day following its receipt.

Barclays Bank PLC complaints of 442,266 for six months should be viewed within the context that it undertakes over 1,500,000 transactions per day, one of the highest volumes of transactions in the UK banking industry.


Barclays is a major global financial services provider engaged in retail banking, credit cards, corporate and investment banking and wealth management with an extensive international presence in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia. With over 300 years of history and expertise in banking, Barclays operates in over 50 countries and employs over 140,000 people. Barclays moves, lends, invests and protects money for 48 million customers and clients worldwide.