Financial services win booby prize for most complaints

Britain's financial services companies are bottom of the league when it comes to customer service, according to a survey published this morning.

Nearly a third (28%) of respondents to a YouGov poll complained most about the banking industry in the past year, outstripping dissatisfaction with the utilities sector, which drew objections from 23% of respondents, writes the Independent.

Retailers and restaurants were in third place at 21%, the survey shows.

The "Big Five" banks are facing increasing pressure over poor customer service. Taken together, Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland/NatWest, HSBC, Barclays and Santander last year doubled the profits made from their High Street customers.

But more than a million people made complaints in the final quarter of 2010 alone, a 15% rise on 2009, according to figures released earlier this month.

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Posen - austerity drive will push down inflation

Adam Posen, the Bank of England policymaker, has predicted that inflaton will fall to 1.5% by mid-2012 as the government's austerity drive and a weak economy will curb consumer spending.

Mr Posen, who has called for more money to be pumped into the economy, was quoated as saying on Monday that he would not seek re-election to the Monetary Policy Committee if his view on quantitative easing turned out to be wrong, writes the Telegraph. 

"If I have made the wrong call, not only will I switch my vote, I would not pursue a second term," Mr Posen said in an interview with the Guardian.

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HSBC told to amend pay plan

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) told John Thornton, chairman of HSBC's remuneration committee, that some investors are unhappy with the bank's new pay plan that could deliver a £12.5m package to Stuart Gulliver, chief executive.

Mr Thornton was called to the ABI's offices in the City on Friday to go through the proposed changes to HSBC's long-incentive plans, writes the Telegraph.

The bank has been speaking to investors individually in an effort to present the scheme as one that will lower executive pay. It will be put to the vote at the annual meeting on May 27.

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Broadbent heads Aviva chairman list

City grandee Sir Richard Broadbent heads the list of candidates to replace Lord Sharman as chairman of Aviva.

The group has been searching for a successor to 68-year-old Sharman, who is due to retire in 2013, writes the Mail.

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ECB finalises bank liquidity scheme

The European Central Bank is set to announce a new liquidity facility for troubled eurozone banks this week, to coincide with the results of the latest round of stress tests on troubled Irish lenders on Wednesday.

The scheme will replace the Emergency Liquidity Assistance being provided to Ireland's struggling banks by the Irish central at present and, although tailored to the Irish situation, it will be available across the eurozone if necessary, writes the Independent.

Ireland's six major banks - including Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks - still rely on the country's central bank for day-to-day operations, despite the bailout by the EU and the International Monetary Fund last year.

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