Royal Bank of Scotland has been fined £2.8 million for mishandling customer complaints as the bank reeled during the financial crisis.
RBS, which is 83 per cent-owned by the taxpayer after receiving a £45.5 billion government bailout, was found by the Financial Services Authority to have had “multiple failings” when responding to thousands of unhappy customers between September and December 2009 .
The fine is the FSA’s largest against a bank over the handling of customer complaints.
The FSA found that the bank and NatWest, the high street bank that has been owned by RBS since 2000, had responded inadequately to 53 per cent of the complaints the regulator reviewed. Delays and incomplete responses were common and FSA found that RBS had failed to provide