Barclays’ customers face longest waiting time for swaps assessment

Published: 13/12/2013

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who were sold an interest rate swap by Barclays will have to wait the longest to have their case assessed, according to data from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Despite the FCA wanting compensation assessments to be completed by the end of May 2014, Barclays expect to miss this deadline by a month. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HSBC are expected to meet the FCA timeframes while Lloyds is on track to finish before the deadline and is likely to complete all assessments by the end of April.

Payouts for mis sold interest rate swaps remain nominal; banks have paid out less than 3 per cent of the total amount set aside but there is a belief this provision will fall significantly short of the mark, particularly for RBS who, despite having more claims under the review than Barclays, Lloyds and HSBC combined, has earmarked just £750million – half the amount of Barclays.

To date £3billion has been set aside by the banks with £81million paid out to victims of interest rate swaps mis selling. However 2600 redress assessment letters were sent out last month so this figure is expected to rise by the end of the year, hopefully offering a somewhat brighter new year for thousands affected businesses.

Content correct at time of publication