A £50 million ($63.3 million) service to fix problems between banks and their small business clients is set to close after three years.
When the business banking solution, backed and funded by a group of lenders, was launched in February 2021, the industry belief 60,000 customers will be eligible to have their problems heard. BBRS said in its annual report Released On Thursday it “left no stone unturned in its mission to encourage eligible SMEs to register their complaints”, yet only £2m of compensation was registered and 137 cases resolved.
“We will inform customers and the public once the banks make a decision on the future financing of the scheme and its expected closure,” the CEO said Mark Grimshaw He said in the report.
Banks spent £23 million To set up BBRS And a further £26.5 million on operating costs over the past three years. Barclays PLC, Danske Bank, HSBC Holdings PLC, Lloyds Banking Group PLC, NatWest Group PLC, Virgin Money UK PLC and Banco Santander SA were the backers. It is independently run and takes cases from clients who are too large to use the Financial Ombudsman service.
UK Finance, the industry trade body, said participating banks are “in discussions with BBRS about the future of the service” and a further announcement will be made in due course.
Discussion in Parliament last year He suggested that BBRS has a bleak future. William Wragg, a Conservative MP, described the project as a “miserable failure”, while Andrew Griffiths, then economic secretary to the Treasury, said it was “virtually heading towards exit in all the circumstances”.
Earlier this month, the Treasury Select Committee Named To be replaced with a new independent system.