Complaints upheld against advisers slumped in the first six months of the year, the latest data from the Financial Ombudsman Service has revealed.

The Financial Ombudsman Scheme has reported a sharp rise in the number of new SIPPs cases in 2018 and is upholding an increasing number of complaints.

The Financial Ombudsman Service has told banks they should take into account the “evolution and sophistication” of frauds and scams – and not simply assume that their customers were “grossly negligent.”  

An Independent Review has cleared the Financial Ombudsman Service of being unfit for purpose following a probe by Channel 4’s Dispatches programme earlier this year.