The service received over two million enquiries and complaints during 2012 of which one-quarter went on to become a formal dispute, an increase from one in five in the previous two years, according to its annual review.
PPI cases accounted for 74% of all cases, with the total 378,699 being more than double the number of cases brought in 2011.
The report also revealed that 62% of all complaints related to the four biggest UK banks, an increase of ten percentage points from 2011, while around 16% of UK residents claim to have had a problem with a financial product or service.
Just under half, 49%, of cases involving the ombudsman resulted in consumers being compensated.
Natalie Ceeney, chief ombudsman, said: “As levels of confidence in financial services have eroded, it is disappointing that we still haven’t seen any significant improvement in complaints handling. Too many financial businesses still seem unable to sort out problems themselves, without the ombudsman having to get involved.
“With complaint numbers doubling, this has been another challenging year for the ombudsman. And if customer dissatisfaction remains at these record levels, the challenges we face are likely to continue for the foreseeable future.”
High street banks had previously topped the list of FCA complaints data for H2 2012 both for overall and investment grievances.
