Bank of Scotland Fined GBP3.5 Million

Bank of Scotland Fined £3.5 Million.

Bank of Scotland (BoS) has been fined £3.5 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for the mishandling of complaints relating to retail investment products.  An investigation by the FSA has shown that between July 2007 and October 2009, BoS received 2,592 complaints about its sales of the Collective Investment Plan, Guaranteed Growth Bond, ISA Investor, Personal Investment Plan and Guaranteed Investment Plan.  

A considerable amount of these complaints were rejected by the bank, but following an internal review, as many as 45% of the complaints it had handed should have been upheld.  The FSA investigation also revealed that many complaints were not investigated properly.

According to the FSA, the Bank of Scotland was made aware at an early stage regarding its handling of complaints because the Financial Ombudsman Service was overturning nearly 46% of BoS’s decisions to reject complaints.