The five biggest banks have seen their profits tumble by a combined figure of 13% in 2011 with the Eurozone debt crisis, raised taxes and also the PPI mis-selling scandal all seen as contributory factors.
Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, RBS and Standard Chartered did nevertheless see pre-tax profits of £19.4bn, as outlined by a report by KPMG, so sympathy should perhaps be put on hold, yet they have certainly been badly affected by PPI mis-selling which has seen them face a bill of a combined £5.7bn combined with the £1.3bn bank levy charge.
The Lloyds Banking group alone saw PPI complaints reach 500,000 last year, double its competitors combined which led to a 130% year-on-year rise in general insurance and PPI complaints. Lloyds has set aside £3.2bn to pay back those who are claiming that they were mis-sold PPI.
People took out PPI to help them in the repayment of loans in the event they became ill or lost their job, but mis-selling frequently occurred through it being sold to people who weren’t eligible for it or who did not know that it was actually being offered to them. Almost £2bn was paid back to consumers in 2011 and even more is anticipated to be claimed throughout 2012 with banks now being ordered to contact all those customers who may have been mis-sold it but who’ve not so far decided to make a claim.
Barclays was the most complained about bank to the Financial Ombudsman Service during the second half of last year, though Lloyds was the most complained about group generally.
Ppi reclaim form 