We’ve published our annual review today. This covers the main stories we’ve seen in banking & borrowing, insurance, investments & pensions, and PPI over the financial year 2018/2019.

You can read about the trends in – and our approach to – areas such as fraud & scams and short-term lending, as well as how we’re developing our service as we move towards the PPI deadline.

You can also view and download our data on complaints figures and customer service.

Commenting on the figures, Caroline Wayman, chief ombudsman and chief executive of the Financial Ombudsman Service, said:

Too often we see that the interests of consumers are not hard-wired into financial services. This marks a five-year high in the number of complaints that consumers have brought to us, and the behaviour we’ve seen from some businesses is simply not good enough.

While we do see examples of businesses responding well to customer concerns, we also see many firms who don’t. Our message to businesses is that practices must improve. If someone has a problem with a financial service, they can come to us with confidence and we will work with them and the business to resolve the issue.

If you’d like a copy of our press release for the annual review, please email [email protected].

Alongside our annual review, we’ve also published our Independent Assessor’s annual report, and our management response to it.

Latest news

Financial Ombudsman Service celebrates one year anniversary in Belfast with investigator recruitment drive

11 September 2025

A year on from the opening of our Belfast hub, we announce 32 new investigator positions.

Press release Recruitment

Read more 

Financial Ombudsman Service consults on changes to its case fees

13 August 2025

We're consulting on changing our case fee structure which would see businesses pay less for complaints which are resolved earlier in the investigation process.

Press release Consultations and responses

Read more 

Financial Ombudsman Service sees a fall in case levels – with complaints at their lowest level for more than a year

7 August 2025

Financial complaints needing our intervention have fallen to their lowest level in over a year, according to new quarterly figures published today.

Press release Q1 data Complaints data Product complaints data Data and Insight

Read more