High-stakes interactions handled with precision.

Complaint volumes are structurally high and the regulator now measures how you handle them. UK firms received 1.74 million complaints in the second half of 2025 — 857,757 in banking and credit cards, 665,370 in insurance — and paid £236 million in redress (FCA). Under Consumer Duty the FCA expects firms to “demonstrate with data they’re providing appropriate support — complaints, average waiting times, customer satisfaction,” and customers must not wait longer to complain or switch than they do to buy (FCA). When systems fail, the fine follows: TSB paid £10.9 million for “woeful systems and controls” in arrears handling, plus £99.9 million in redress (FCA).

Fraud is now the biggest driver of current-account complaints. Payment fraud reached £1.28 billion across a record 4.06 million cases in 2025; APP fraud alone was £576 million (UK Finance Fraud Report 2026). Mandatory reimbursement means every claim is a time-boxed, evidenced workflow: 84% of claims resolved within five business days, 97% within 35 (Payment Systems Regulator).

Branches are closing and the contact center is absorbing the difference: 6,896 UK branches have closed since 2015 and 314 more are scheduled for 2026 (Which?); US banks closed a net 148 branches in the first quarter of 2025 alone (S&P Global). Meanwhile 31% of agents say they are likely to leave within six months, and in 45% of calls agents spend three minutes searching for an answer (Verint, April 2026).

AI is arriving under supervision, not instead of it. The FCA’s AI Live Testing cohort includes NatWest, Monzo, Santander and Lloyds on customer-engagement and complaints use cases (FCA); DORA has applied since January 2025 and reaches the ICT providers behind the contact center, with contractual provisions, a register of information and incident reporting (EIOPA). And the Cisco estate many banks run reaches end-of-support on 31 December 2027 (Cisco).