Business Banking Resolution Service admits expectations were too high

BBRS chief executive Mark Grimshaw said as the organisation finished its first full year of operation it has said that following on from the Post Implementation Review, it found that the expectation of the numbers of eligible cases it could help was “out of kilter with reality”.

“There was an initial forecast that there were 60,000 eligible historical cases of which 6,000 were expected to register (over three years). But recent data from Bayes Business School tells us that there are only 14,000 eligible cases of which we could expect to see 1,400 register with us,” he said.

“We have left no stone unturned to find eligible cases. We ran a comprehensive, multimedia awareness campaign which generated total opportunities to see 56.45 million and website landing page visits of 73,800. But despite this, we still have low levels of registration.”

He said that despite smaller numbers, the BBRS has been focused on delivering for the customers it can help.

“Since our launch, the BBRS has seen levels of trust in mediation from both banks and customers increase,” Mr Grimshaw said.

“Indeed, there is much conciliation and mediation going on in the background that is not reflected in the absolute numbers of settled adjudicated cases.”

The annual report showed that at the end of 2021, the BBRS had 708 cases including 200 open cases and 508 closed cases. Many of the cases it initially received were ineligible for the BBRS. Most eligible for the FOS or another redress scheme, had already pursued legal proceedings, or had settled directly with their bank.

The report revealed that while in many cases it became obvious that they fell outside the BBRS eligibility criteria, 57 cases required a formal eligibility assessment.

“We understand how disappointing it can be for customers to find their claim to be ineligible, but the BBRS must assess, fairly and independently, whether a case meets the eligibility criteria we have been given,” said BBRS chief adjudicator Alexandra Mark.

“We have also been able to progress several cases via the ‘concessionary case’ route. This is a novel feature of the BBRS and enables even ineligible cases to be reviewed by the BBRS where we consider we should be able to do so and the bank agrees. These are cases which are reviewed by concession: in most similar schemes, they would simply be dismissed as ineligible.”

Most of the complaints registered with the BBRS have been historical complaints against banks (84 per cent), that is the customer first complained to their bank before April 2019.

The deadline for the historical claims to be registered with the BBRS is 14 February 2023. The BBRS said it is now seeing more contemporary cases register that may mean that the data is easier to find and the cases are more straightforward to progress.