The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published the complaints figures for regulated firms for the first half of 2019.

The data showed an increase in complaints from 3.91m in the second half (H2) of 2018 to 4.29m for the first half (H1) of 2019.

The increase in complaints was mainly driven by a 34 per cent increase in the volume of PPI complaints received, from 1.58m to 2.12m. PPI complaints made up 49 per cent of all complaints received during this period, continuing to be the most complained about product.

While PPI complaints increased in the first half of 2019, there was a 6 per cent drop in the number of non-PPI complaints, from 2.32m in 2018 H2 to 2.18m in 2019 H1.

When PPI is taken out, the figures today are the lowest volume of complaints firms have received since new reporting rules came into effect in 2016.

Excluding PPI complaints, the most complained about products remain current accounts (14 per cent of reported complaints), credit cards (8 per cent) and motor and transport insurance (6 per cent).

The average volume of complaints received per 1,000 accounts for banking and credit cards has decreased to 4.2, compared to 4.6 in 2018 H2. This was also the case for home finance, which decreased from 9.6 to 8.7 complaints per 1,000 mortgage accounts.

Overall, excluding PPI, the average redress per complaint upheld increased from £175 to £200 between 2018 H2 and 2019 H1.