4th Sep 2013 10:49
LONDON (Alliance News) - Figures published Wednesday by the UK financial regulator show Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC currently is reviewing more sales of interest-rate hedging products than all of the other banks involved combined, while the majority of those reviews as part of the mis-selling scandal are still in the early stages.
The Financial Conduct Authority's figures, published in its four-month update on the banks' reviews of sales of interest-rate hedging products, showed RBS had 10,528 sales under review, compared with 10,322 for all of the other banks combined. Moreover, 4,602 of RBS's sales under internal review remain at the first stage of assessment, compared with none at Barclays PLC; 52 at HSBC Holdings PLC; and 893 at Lloyds Banking Group PLC.
The FCA said that by the end of August 10, pay-outs to businesses had gone through totalling GBP500,000. The regulator said it expects that figure to increase rapidly over the coming months, with 210 offers already sent to customers and another 1,700 to follow in due course.
"With 85 per cent of cases now under review, banks have made progress. But like the thousands of affected small businesses, we want to see redress paid quickly to those who have suffered loss as the result of mis-selling," Martin Wheatley, chief executive of the FCA, said in a statement.
It has been over a year since the FCA established the redress review. At the time, the FCA's predecessor, the Financial Services Authority, said:
"We focused on the sales of interest rate hedging products since 2001, but the greatest volumes were sold in the period 2005-2008, before the base rate fell sharply to its current, sustained, historic low. During this period, some banks reduced the minimum loan value against which they were willing
to offer interest rate hedging products, widening the target market of customers."
RBS shares were Wednesday quoted at 325.60 pence, down 5.70 pence, or 1.7%.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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