The consumer group received about 9,000 responses to its questionnaire about customer service, value for money, clarity and accuracy of bills, and complaint handling.

It found banks had a 'poor complaint handling culture' with poor controls and inadequate training.

And the firm broke complaint handling rules, with staff slow to react and not informative.

Its services include information, advice, education, complaint handling (primarily through the provision of third party conciliation and mediation services) and business registration and licensing services.

Complaints continued to be made about the design of the system, the failures in complaint handling and the unfair or unreasonable recovery of overpayments.