The Ombudsman took on a record 575,836 new cases in total in 2013 – an increase of more than a third (38%) on the previous year.

The various Lloyds subsidiaries, which include Halifax and Bank of Scotland, received 85,379 complaints between July and December.

Despite topping the table yet again, the number of complaints against Lloyds fell by 34% from the previous six-month period.

Barclays was the second most complained about buisness group with 37,030 complaints in the second half of last year.

RBS came third on the list, followed by HSBC, MBNA and Santander UK.

Complaints about payment protection insurance (PPI) made up three quarters of all new cases referred to the Ombudsman in the second half of the year.

For complaints about financial products other than PPI, the total number of cases dropped by 8% compared to the first half of 2013 (55,747 compared to 60,807). This involved banking complaints reducing by 11% and insurance cases by 7%.

Tony Boorman, chief ombudsman, said: “The extraordinary volumes of financial complaints we saw in 2013 now looks as if they’re starting to level off at last – and that has to be welcome news for everyone.

“But we’re still a long way from being able to say that PPI is sorted once and for all. Over 1,000 people every day are still asking us to sort out PPI problems that they’ve not been able to resolve directly with their bank.

“So with the numbers of new cases still depressingly high, we’re going to need to continue to rely on the patience of consumers and the cooperation of businesses to get us through the substantial workload.

“Away from PPI, there are further signs of improvement, with fewer cases suggesting good news. But in far too many cases uphold rates remain stubbornly high, highlighting the need for financial businesses to do more to demonstrate their longer-term commitment to listen to customer’s concerns as they seek to rebuild trust.”