Hargreaves hit by spate of complaints after RM debacle

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Hargreaves hit by spate of complaints after Royal Mail debacle

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Online stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown received a slew of complaints following the website crash that infuriated investors during the Royal Mail flotation, figures from the City regulator have shown.

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) figures show that Hargreaves Lansdown received 3,317 complaints in the second half of last year, compared to 527 in the first half. It received more investment-related complaints than any other financial services company, with 3,173.

Hargreaves Lansdown said 80% of the complaints it received related to the problems it experienced at the time of the Royal Mail flotation. The online stockbroker's website crashed after it was swamped by investors, many trying to sell and make a quick profit.

Adrian Lowcock, Hargreaves Lansdown senior investment manager, said: 'The majority of complaints relate specifically to the Royal Mail flotation last October. The demand for Royal Mail shares was off the scale with 118,000 clients purchasing Royal Mail shares through Hargreaves Lansdown.

'Complaints relating to Royal Mail covered a wide range of issues including complaints on the number of shares clients received, how shares were allocated and other matters. Excluding complaints about the Royal Mail flotation, complaints remained very low, at the same level as in the first half of 2013, representing less than 0.1% of 584,000 clients who use Hargreaves Lansdown.'

Complaints across the whole of financial services in the second half of 2013 were down on the first half, from 2.9 million to 2.5 million, the FCA figures show, while Barclays remained the most complained-about bank.

Barclays notched up 309,294 complaints between July and December 2013 according to figures from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). However, this represents a 17% drop on the number of complaints it received in the previous six months.

The big banks have dominated the complaints list, with Lloyds, Bank of Scotland and NatWest making it into the top five, alongside credit card provider MBNA.

Lloyds notched up 256,656 complaints, roughly in line with the number it received in the first half of the year, while complaints against MBNA fell 10% to 213,311. Bank of Scotland complaints were down 18% at 181,353, while NatWest received 5% fewer complaints than in the first half of the year, at 175,731.

The payment protection insurance (PPI) scandal has continued to loom large in the figures, with PPI issues accounting for more than half of all complaints.

Banking complaints accounted for the next highest number, but at 558,991 has reached the lowest level for eight years. Prudential received the most complaints related to pension products.

Martin Wheatley, FCA chief executive, said: ‘No firm wants to top this particular list and they all should be striving to ensure that customers are being treated fairly and not given cause to complain. This is an indication that firms seem to be putting customers at the heart of their business, however, there is clearly more for us all to do to show consumers their interests come first.’