Faster Payments System?

BBC Radio 4's Money Box Saturday, 30 May 2009 at 1204 BST On Radio 4 and Online Listen to the programme Programme transcript (15 pages)

Same day clearance of money was brought in by a core group of banks exactly a year ago.

But 12 months on, and months after Money Box highlighted shortcomings, some of the founder members of the Faster Payments System have made virtually no progress and promises made have been broken.

The programme estimates that £45bn a year, which should be cleared at the press of a button, is not.

Samantha Washington reported and we heard from Vera Cottrell of Which? and Sandra Quinn from APACS.

Further information:

Kaupthing compensation

The recovery rate may be in the range of 68p to 89p in the pound

The way is now clear for 10,000 savers who put their money into the offshore arm of a failed Icelandic bank on the Isle of Man to receive compensation payments.

A winding up order was made on Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander Isle of Man earlier this week.

The bank's savers are to receive payments up to the first £50,000 lost from a depositors' compensation scheme.

It is not clear how much of the bank's other assets will be returned to savers.

A separate deal brokered by the Manx Government was rejected by the KSFIOM Depositors' Action Group.

Money Box heard from a depositor, the lawyer for the KSFIOM Depositors' Action Group, David Greene and also from John Spellman, director of the financial services division of The Treasury, Isle of Man government.

Further information:

Ombudsman complaints

There have been more complaints about payment protection insurance

More than half of those who complained to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) in the last financial year have won some compensation.

The FOS annual report said there was a 15% increase in the number of disputes it decided, at a record of 114,000.

Of these, 57% went in favour of the complainant, a far higher proportion than in the past.

The financial products which have been producing more complaints are payment protection insurance, credit cards, loans and consumer credit.

So is the recession and general belt-tightening responsible for the rise in complaints?

Or are there issues in the way financial institutions deal with customer disatisfaction that need to be resolved?

The chief ombudsman, Walter Merricks, and Eric Leenders from the British Banker's Association discussed this.

Further information:

Pensions campaign

In 2005 protesters stripped to highlight workers who lost occupational pensions

Hundreds of pensioners will be naked in London's Parliament Square on Wednesday claiming once more they have been stripped of their pensions.

The campaign has achieved a great deal over the five years it has been running.

People who have lost their company pension after their employer has gone bust will now normally get 90% of the pension they were expecting.

But more than a year after this historic deal was agreed the campaigners are still not happy.

Andrew Parr of the Pensions Action Group explained.

Further information:

BBC Radio 4's Money Box was broadcast on Saturday, 30 May at 1204 BST.

The programme was repeated on Sunday, 31 May at 2102 BST.

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