Clydesdale Bank has been fined a record £20.7 million for “serious failings” in the way it handled payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said staff from the Glasgow-based lender failed to take into account all relevant documents when deciding how to deal with complaints.
It also provided false information to the Financial Ombudsman Service in response to requests for evidence of the records Clydesdale held on PPI policies sold to individual customers.
The matters relate to complaint handling processes between May 2011 and July 2013 and have resulted in the largest ever fine imposed by the FCA for failings relating to PPI.
Georgina Philippou, acting director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “Clydesdale’s failings were unacceptable and fell well below the standard the FCA expects.
“The fact that Clydesdale misled the Financial Ombudsman by providing false information about the information it held is particularly serious and this is reflected in the size of the fine.”
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