(FCA Complaints Data - 01 July 2016 to 31 December 2016)
In line with the new FCA complaints data reporting requirements, figures published today by Santander UK reveal 153,794 reportable complaints received by the bank during the second half of the year. The results are driven by the FCA’s change in reporting, which took place from 30 June 2016, and now requires firms to report all complaints. Previously the FCA reporting rules did not require firms to include complaints that were resolved by close of the next business day. If the current reporting requirements were applied to the first half of 2016; the bank received 154,738 complaints compared with our second half published figure of 153,794 - showing a reduction half on half.
These improvements reflect Santander’s continued focus on improving customer experience. Over the last few years, the bank has simplified processes and systems, working hard to ensure that customers have easy access to the right products to suit their needs, fulfilling our commitment to help our customers and businesses prosper, whilst being a bank that is simple personal and fair.
During the last year we have transformed our customers’ digital experience, launching a series of new products and services, including end-to-end mortgages, allowing customers to quickly and simply remortgage online. The new service could take as little as 40 minutes to complete and provides customers with an instant decision. We have made enhancements to our voice-assistant technology, allowing customers to make payments using their voice, check their account balance, report a lost card and ask about spend within a particular time period.
Enhancements have also begun on Santander branches, with the first of the newly designed customer-centric branches opening in Tottenham Court Road, London. This is the first in a series of 20 branches set to be refurbished with a new design during 2017, offering state of the art digital facilities, and an innovative design to place the customer at the centre.
Our work to deliver an excellent customer experience across all channels continues to be recognised externally, with Santander being awarded the Moneywise Customer Service Award 2016 for the ‘Most Trusted Mainstream Bank’ and ‘Most Trusted for Small Business Banking’. Santander has also recently been awarded Britain’s Top Employers 2017 certification for outstanding employee offerings.
Sue Willis, Managing Director of Customer Experience & Complaints said: “Helping people and businesses prosper through providing simple, personal and fair banking lies at the heart of our strategy. Coupled with that, offering customers a seamless experience and excellent service is fundamental to the way we work.
“While we have made good progress in both how we handle complaints and with our customer satisfaction scores, we know we still have more to do and remain unwavering in our commitment to deliver an exceptional customer experience.”
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Notes to Editors
About Us
Number of complaints opened by volume of business
We put the complaints figures into context using ‘per 1000’ metrics so that comparisons can be made across firms of different sizes.
Helpful notes to explain the data:
* The 'Provision' metric is used when a firm is the product provider, using the total volume of accounts held as at the end of the reporting half (31/12/2016). The 'Intermediation' metric is used when a firm is only responsible for selling the product (but isn't the provider), using the volumes of sales made during the reporting half (01/07/2016 to 31/12/2016).
** For the 'General Insurance & Pure Protection' and 'Investments' product groups, while Santander UK is responsible for selling the product, we have used the provision metric to provide more meaningful context, as we did for H1 2018
***Decumulation, life and pensions products - Santander continues to resolve complaints relating to the advice provided at point of sale for a variety of different historic group companies. Santander had stopped advising on or selling any of these products by June 2011 and they are now either owned or administered by 3rd party firms.
Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought real competition to the UK, through its innovative products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. At 31 December 2016, the bank serves around 14 million active customers with c20,000 employees and operates through 841 branches (which includes 60 university branches) and 67 regional Corporate Business Centres. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.
Banco Santander (SAN SM, STD US, BNC LN) is a leading retail and commercial bank, headquartered in Spain, with a meaningful market share in 10 core countries in Europe and the Americas. It is among the world’s top banks by market capitalization. The bank’s purpose is to help people and businesses prosper, in a way that is simple, personal and fair. Founded in 1857, Santander had EUR 1.52 trillion in managed funds, 125 million customers, 12,200 branches and 188,000 employees at the close of 2016. Santander made attributable profit of EUR 6,204 million in 2016, an increase of 4% compared to the previous year.
Media Enquiries
Stephanie Harris T: 0207 756 4221 M: 07841 506 668 E: stephanie.harris@santander.co.uk
Andy Smith T: 020 7756 4212 M: 07824 473 338 E: andy.g.smith@santander.co.uk
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