PPI was a bonanza—for banks, and then for consumers
Banks have paid £36bn, but the costs don’t end there
FOR TWO years Britons have been bombarded with bizarre television adverts featuring the animatronic head of Arnold Schwarzenegger. In this guise the actor and former governor of California has been urging them—on behalf of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a regulator—to claim compensation for mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) before the deadline of August 29th.
Banks, which sold the bulk of PPI policies, will be even gladder to see the back of Arnie’s bonce. They hope this week’s cut-off, agreed on in 2017 with the FCA, will draw a line under a scandal that proved costly first for consumers and then for the banks themselves. Between 1990 and 2010 lenders reaped £44bn ($54bn) in premiums—and between 2011 and this June repaid £36bn to customers (see chart).
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline "Hasta la vista"
Britain August 31st 2019
- Boris Johnson suspends Parliament, causing uproar
- Why governments of national unity are so hard to form
- Free iPads for Scottish pupils
- The end of a 134-year-old English football club
- PPI was a bonanza—for banks, and then for consumers
- Tim Bell, the founding father of fake news
- “Olympic”, “royal”, “knob”—the names that can get your business banned
- The unlikely Tory rebels
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