The Prudential Assurance Company came out top of the Decumulation, Life and Pensions category with 6,161 complaints between January and June 2016.

For investments, Barclays Bank was the most complained about, with 3,422.

By product group, the firms with the largest number of complaints opened in the first half of 2016 were:

Decumulation, Life and Pensions

1. The Prudential Assurance Company Limited 6,161
2. Friends Life Limited 5,874
3. The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited 4,711
4. Aviva Life Services UK Limited 3,267
5. Phoenix Life Limited 3,109

Investments

1. Barclays Bank Plc 3,422
2. HSBC Bank Plc 3,269
3. Santander UK Plc 2,453
4. Equiniti Financial Services Limited 1,498
5. Financial Administration Services Limited 1,474

General insurance and pure protection (including payment protection insurance)

1. Barclays Bank Plc 153,718
2. Lloyds Bank PLC 140,669
3. Bank of Scotland plc 115,121
4. MBNA Limited 75,995
5. HSBC Bank Plc 49,292

Overall, the top five most complained about firms between January and June 2016 (excluding consumer credit) were:

1. Barclays Bank Plc - 287,463 (an increase of 3% since the second half of 2015)

2. Lloyds Bank PLC - 213,163 (a decrease of 7% since the second half of 2015)

3. Bank of Scotland plc - 173,646 (a decrease of 5% since the second half of 2015)

4. HSBC Bank Plc - 124,891 (an increase of 3% since the second half of 2015)

5. National Westminster Bank Plc - 121,197 (a decrease of 10% since the second half of 2015)

There was a 2.6% reduction in new complaints between January and June 2016 compared to the previous six months for the finance sector as a whole, with the total number of complaints standing at 2.05 million.

PPI was the most complained about product. The total number of PPI complaints was more or less unchanged at 0.93 million. Without PPI, the number of complaints was 1.12 million.

Complaints about current accounts have seen the largest reduction – 46,000 or 10% - in this period.

Christopher Woolard, director of strategy and competition, said: “To see another six months of reduction in the total number complaints is encouraging.

“Firms still need to continue to ensure they are doing all they can to reduce consumer dissatisfaction, but the figures show firms are taking our feedback seriously”.

The total redress paid to consumers was £1.96 billion which is less than 1% lower than the redress paid between July and December 2015.

All product categories saw a reduction in redress payments in the first half of 2016 from the second half of 2015, except for home finance group of products which increased by 2% and general insurance and pure protection (including PPI) which increased by 6%.

The top ten firms paid 85% of the total redress given to consumers in the first half of 2016. This was broadly consistent with the previous period during which the top ten firms accounted for 83% of total redress paid to consumers.