Complaints handling
Our members and customers are at the heart of our business and we strive to put them first in all we do.
Whilst we are proud of our record of high customer advocacy and recognition by external commentators, we also recognise that sometimes things can go wrong.
When it does, we encourage our customers to tell us and we try to put things right as quickly as possible. The feedback we receive from our customers is invaluable and it helps us to shape the way we do things in the future.
Every six months we submit information to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) about the complaints we've received from our customers. The information includes details of the number of complaints we receive, how many we've closed and how many we've upheld – found in favour of the customer.
The tables below outline the information submitted to the FSA.
Complaints data
Name: The Co-operative Banking Group
Group: The Co-operative Banking Group
Period covered in this return: 1st July 2012 – 31st December 2012
The brand / legal entities covered: The Co-operative Bank plc (including smile & Britannia), Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd, CIS General Insurance Ltd, CIS Policyholder Services Ltd, CIS Unit Managers Ltd, The Co-operative Asset Management Ltd, Platform Home Loans Ltd, Co-operative Bank Financial Advisers Ltd.
| Product / Service Grouping | Number of complaints opened | Number of complaints closed | Complaints closed within 8 weeks (%) | Closed complaints upheld by firm (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 36865 | 41912 | 96.92 | 55.88 |
To put these figures into context this represents 2.94 complaints, reportable to the FSA per thousand live policies, accounts or investment products (as at September 2012), being received during the reporting time period.
The results above provide an overview of complaints received in respect of all the trading names used by The Co-operative Banking Group. We have split the results of the three largest trading names, each of which has received over 500 complaints for the last reporting period. These are:
- The Co-operative Bank plc including smile & Britannia
- Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd
- CIS General Insurance Ltd
The complaints data for each of these trading names are shown below.
The Co-operative Bank plc including smile and Britannia
Firm name: The Co-operative Bank plc
Group: The Co-operative Banking Group
Period covered in this return: 1st July - 31st December 2012
Brand / trading names covered: The Co-operative Bank, Britannia, smile
| Product / Service Grouping* | Number of complaints opened | Number of complaints closed | Complaints closed within 8 weeks (%) | Closed complaints upheld by firm (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banking | 11027 |
12373 |
94.30 |
45.41 |
| Home Finance | 1317 |
1458 |
92.80 |
43.21 |
| General Insurance & Pure Protection (incl PPI complaints) | 16122 |
19417 |
99.80 |
69.77 |
| of which PPI complaints | 15930 |
19206 |
99.85 |
70.22 |
| Decumulation, Life & Pensions | 231 |
240 |
99.17 |
11.25 |
| Investments | 29 |
24 |
95.83 |
29.17 |
| Total | 28726 |
33512 |
97.46 |
59.18 |
To put these figures into context just under 4 complaints (3.90) were received per thousand live policies, accounts or investment products (as at September 2012) during the reporting period. Excluding PPI related complaints this equates to 1.74 complaints per thousand live policies, accounts or investment products.
Co-operative Insurance Society
Firm name: Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd
Group: The Co-operative Banking Group
Period Reported: 1st July - 31st December 2012
Brand/trading names covered: The Co-operative Insurance, The Co-operative Investments
| Product / Service Grouping* | Number of complaints opened | Number of complaints closed | Complaints closed within 8 weeks (%) | Closed complaints upheld by firm (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banking | N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| Home Finance | N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| General Insurance & Pure Protection | 573 |
557 |
98.03 |
29.26 |
| Decumulation, Life & Pensions | 1792 |
1868 |
92.56 |
36.30 |
| Investments | 150 |
149 |
97.32 |
30.20 |
| Total | 2515 |
2574 |
94.02 |
34.42 |
To put these figures into context just under 1 complaint (0.77) was received per thousand live policies or investment products (as at September 2012) during the reporting period.
CIS General Insurance Ltd
Firm name: CIS General Insurance Ltd
Group: The Co-operative Banking Group
Period covered in this return: 1st July - 31st December 2012
Brand/trading names covered: The Co-operative Insurance
| Product / Service Grouping* | Number of complaints opened | Number of complaints closed | Complaints closed within 8 weeks (%) | Closed complaints upheld by firm (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banking | N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| Home Finance | N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| General Insurance & Pure Protection | 4290 |
4355 |
94.47 |
55.36 |
| Decumulation, Life & Pensions | N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| Investments | N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
| Total | 4290 |
4355 |
94.47 |
55.36 |
To put these figures into context just under 3 complaints (2.65) per thousand live policies (as at September 2012) were received during the reporting period.
*Explanation of product/service groupings:
Banking: this includes current accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, unsecured loans.
Home Finance: mortgages and home improvement loans.
General Insurance & Pure Protection.
- Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd: this includes life insurance products such as level term assurance, decreasing term assurance and critical illness policies
- CIS General Insurance Ltd: this includes home, motor, travel and pet insurance products
- The Co-operative Bank plc: this includes home insurance products sold under the Britannia brand.
Payment Protection: this includes all Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), Overdraft Protection Insurance (OPI), Card Protection Insurance (CPI) and Mortgage Payment Protection Insurance (MPPI).
Decumulation, Life & Pensions: this includes pension products, with profit endowment products, with profit bonds and annuity products. Decumulation products turn existing capital into income in retirement.
Investments: this includes unit trusts and stock & shares ISA products, investment bonds and personal interest bearing shares.
