The report made by the regulator is carried out twice a year. Complaints recorded were between 1 July 2016 and 31 December 2016.

Lloyds Bank received the most complaints made about investments between 1 July 2016 and 31 December 2016, the Financial Conduct Authority found in a report.

The data published by the FCA showed that the total number of complaints reported by firms was 3.04 million. This figure is higher because under the new FCA rules, all complaints are now captured in the data.

Lloyds reported 78.3 complaints per 1,000 client accounts, which was the highest number for the area of investments. The second highest in the category was Woolwich Plan Managers, part of the Barclays">Barclays group, which had 52.4 complaints per 1000 client accounts.

Other firms that received a high number of complaints were:

Phoenix Life Assurance – 19.6 per 1,000 client accounts
Abbey Life Assurance Company – 14.3 per 1,000 client accounts
Phoenix Life Limited – 15.0 per 1,000 client account
Santander – 12.3 per 1000 client accounts
Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (UK) – 11.1 per 1,000 client accounts

Both HSBC and Natwest scored fairly low with 2.2 and 0.5 complaints per 1,000 client accounts, respectively.

The new data found by the FCA for the second half of 2016, was influenced by the new rules enforced from 30 June 2016. Due to the new rules, financial services firms also have three days to address a complaint to a consumer’s satisfaction, whereas previously there was a next business day time limit.

The FCA believes the new data set is more informative because it shows the number of complaints against size of the business. It also provides greater insight about the products that consumers complain about. This information will provide a better understanding of the areas where consumers are struggling to gain satisfaction.

Greater transparency of complaints information will enable consumers looking to invest or buy products to be better informed about the products that have caused concern for other consumers.