You know the saying, put your money into bricks and mortar and you’ll see a long term return, but it seems one Irish artist has taken that advice literally. As an artistic statement about the bankrupt Irish economy, Artist Frank Buckley has built a house made from over 1 billion euros of shredded decommissioned notes.

Frank Buckley's Billion euro house is made entirely from €50,000 bricks of shredded decommissioned notes

The billion Euro house sits in the lobby of the Glass House in Dublin, an empty office building in the city centre. The money, which comes in pulped bricks of shredded decommissioned notes, was loaned to the artist by the Mint.

The idea came to Mr Buckley while he was waiting for a friend outside the building and the owners of the Office block were immediately keen on the idea. He had been given a block of the shredded notes to use as confetti at his wedding, which acted as inspiration. The unemployed artist simply asked the Mint for a lorry load more and while there was almost as much paperwork involved; the Mint were more than happy to assist.

The latest UK figures for unemployment show the highest number of people without a job since 1994, with 2.68 million out of work. The figures, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed some discouraging statistics including:

- 29.7% of youths aged 16 – 24 unemployed

- 8.4% of the economically active population unemployed

- 0.3% rise in umemployment on the previous quarter, a rise of 118,000.

- There were 2.68 million unemployed people

- Highest number of unemployed people since 1994

If you’re employed in the private sector you may be surprised to read that both regular pay and bonuses rose by 1.9% on the same period last year. Of course this is cold comfort for many who face the threat of redundancy and not much good to public sector workers but it does show some positive movement.

Any early signs of a smile emerging may be wiped off your boat race by the predictions of leading analysts, declaring that the UK has already slipped back into recession. On the plus side, it’s the Olympics this year and what better than a national showcase to bind the multi-cultural societies of our great nation (if you’re not proud about your country, it couldn’t help).

If we reported on every discrepancy that was made by an insurer, bank or lender then it would be all we ever wrote about, but a recent fine imposed by the FSA is definitely worth mentioning. The Combined Insurance Company of America (CICA) has been hit with a fine of £2.8m for employing a ‘high-risk’ pay scheme that governed the wages of their sales agents.

The City watchdog slapped CICA with a £2.8m fine

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said that the way sales staff earned their money led to customers being at risk of being treated unfairly when buying accident and sickness insurance. As a result of the findings, CICA has agreed to look into the way customers are treated and pay compensation to where appropriate.

Most of CICA’s policyholders were self-employed or small business owners with the FSA citing the following business failures that led to the fine:

- Sales staff with less-than-adequate qualifications and missing references

- Failure to ensure that sales staff had the knowledge to provide appropriate advice

- Paying sales agents on a commission-only basis was deemed ‘risky’

- Customer complaints and rule-breaking sales staff where not dealt with adequately

The above issues combined with the £2.8m fine (reduced from £4m after an early settlement) and FSA ruling has resulted in CICA not taking on any new business since October last year.

As 2012 begins and the focus of our nation shifts towards the arrival of the worlds greatest athletes, new figures from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) have revealed that 2011 was just as Olympic as 2012 promises to be. In the first 10 months of last year more than £1 billion in mis sold PPI compensation was paid out according to the financial watchdog, that’s £2,739,726.03 refunded each and every day.

The banks are starting to seriously regret mis selling PPI. There's plenty more people to claim and lots of money to be paid out.

As 2011 progressed; more was paid out each month with the latest figures, for October, revealing it to be the highest month yet for redress with firms paying out £268 million to claimants, that’s £8,645,161.29 paid back every day. However, unlike the 204 countries that take part in the Olympics, just 16 unnamed companies were responsible for the £1 billion in compensation, with the same companies accounting for 92% of all PPI claims in the first six months of 2011.

When it comes to PPI claims UK financial consumers are ahead of other countries in seeking refunds. With over £1bn paid out in 2011 and press coverage increasing, the level of PPI compensation paid out in 2012 is set to smash last years total. When the banks gave up the fight against mis sold PPI it was estimated that more than three million people were in line for compensation. By the end of 2011, 104,597 more people had complained about PPI, but overall; less that 1 million people have been paid out. Despite this, the total bill for mis sold PPI is on target to reach the early forecasts of around £8 billion.

It’s great news that more people are getting back the money that are owed. All we want to know is: were we one of the 16 companies? We’ve definitely helped a lot of people get their money back!

Bank of Scotland has reported a half year loss of £1.4 billion. The bank, of which 84% is owned by taxpayers, is set to cut around 2000 jobs in the next 12 to 18 months in an effort to cut costs and increase profit. RBS has already cut 27,500 jobs since the start of the financial crisis.

The bank had to take a £733 million provision for its exposure to Greek government bonds and also has had to allocate £850 million for mis sold PPI policies they will inevitably have to refund. The money is also there to cover the compensation they will have to pay consumers for PPI claims.

However, the bank also reported an improvement in its core operating profit to £1.7bn from £1.1bn in 2010. The British Bankers Association said RBS is on target to meet business lending commitments drawn up under the Project Merlin agreement with the Government.

Britain’s top five banks RBS, Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays and Santander UK have provided £100.4bn in gross new lending in the first half of the year, including £37.4bn to small businesses.

However reports from consumers have told of customers being forced by their banks to convert their overdraughts into loans to give the impression of new lending. There have also been customers who have had their loan accounts closed and re-opened giving the loans new account numbers and therefore being passed off as new lending.

This shows again the corrupt nature of the banks and the bankers. In order to meet government agreements they are simply re-issuing credit to fool us into thinking that they are meeting targets set by government. The fact that nobody in government has picked up on this suggests possible compliance on their part.

Customers in the UK are ditching high street banks in favour of opening accounts with Metro Bank. The first start-up bank to open in Britain in a century is opening hundreds of accounts a day with people desperately looking for a trustworthy bank that cares about customer service. The London based bank has pledged to provide customers with good customer service and low rates. The bank is set to open a nationwide online account that will not charge customers for taking out cash making it one of the only banks in the UK that offers this.

The Croyden store, the latest to be opened, attracted 500 new accounts in its first weekend. Bank Chairman Anthony Thomson has said “‘It’s incredible; we always said there was a real opportunity for a bank offering a real customer experience. People said it wasn’t possible, that all customers cared about was rates, but we’ve been proved right.’

When the Bank launched it was criticised by some in the banking industry as offering below par rates and focusing too heavily on customer service. However Thomson says their rates are fair, transparent and without catches, something that is rare with the high street banks. Metro seems to be capitalising on its customer service based approach especially with other high street banks taking heavy criticism over the service they provide.  Last year alone 1.1 million people complained to their bank with 100,000 of those lodging a complaint with the financial ombudsman. Many of these complaints were regarding PPI claims and extortionate bank charges.

So a bank that focuses on good customer service may be just what the British public need and will hopefully improve the service offered by the large high street banks. Good customer service is something we should demand as consumers and if you have received unfair bank charges or poor customer service why not consider changing to Metro bank.

The FSA was blamed by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) for not stepping in the Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) dilemma quickly before it got worse and calls the financial services industry’s mis-selling scandals an “addiction.”

Primary Ombudsman Tony Boor complained about the 100,000 complaints the BBA has left under its service, mostly composed of mis sold payment protection insurance.

During the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) complaints handling seminar, Mr. Boor stated that the banking industry looked like it was “addicted to regular mis-selling scandals.”

He sermoned both parties of learning an important lesson in detecting, not ignoring or denying problems in the financial industry, and more importantly, resolving it early on; quoting, “too often we have seen problems that are first ignored, then denied, then minimized, and eventually tackled when it is too late.”

Boorman criticized the city regulator for not exercising decisive measures when the scam first surfaced; saying the city watchdog seemed to have been “unwilling or unable to act – or at least to do so promptly.”

He stated that he didn’t think “any of the involved parties would disagree that earlier regulatory action on PPI would have been in the public interest.” On the other hand, the Ombudsman insisted of the industry’s responsibility, and of ways it can better its services by being “open to accepting critical observations about past practices and more ready to propose ways in which those problems can be resolves fairly, efficiently, and promptly.”

He explained the FOS’ method of handling claims and issuing its results is the “path to greater transparency”, calling for orderly and justified measures that do not “recognize the sensitivity” of the information need to be dealt with.

He hoped extended transparency will “bust some myths” about what they do, and announced a discussion about publicizing ombudsman conclusion later this year.

The Financial Services Authority has granted HSBC an extension to settle its backlog of payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints in order to ensure proper handling of its customers.

The terms run similarly with other high street banks Barclays, Lloyds and RBS involving a stretch of backlog and new complaint handling period.  Under normal ruling by the FSA, grievances have to be answered in the time period of 8 weeks, the agreement gives additional time for banks to clear up complaints that were frozen and were received during the conclusion of the judicial review.

PPI Claims that were put on hold during the court battle will be given priority response and must be resolved by the 31st August 2011, while those that have been collected by firms after the end of the court review on or prior to August 31 will be replied to in 16 weeks.

Those that were submitted on or past the first day of September and the dates previous December 31 2011 will be answered to within the 12 – week period.

Stringent terms have recently been implemented on the temporary period given by the FSA, these include a mandatory regular report on the banks’ observance to the aforementioned rules, and keeping PPI claimants duly informed.

The City regulator will expect all PPI compensation complaints handling to resume its normal 8-week standard by the first day of next year, January 1 2012.

Unlike its contemporary, Barclays, fellow top UK banks Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland will not be giving “automatic reimbursement” to claims received prior to the 20^th of April from their customers whom they have mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) to.

Both banks did not promise to give compensation to just anyone that filed a complaint before April 20, specifying its coverage will only be limited to customers banking with either Lloyds TSB, Halifax and Bank of Scotland brands – which is estimated to make up 20% of dismissed cases; Lloyds spokesman also stated the validity of the claim will base its viability on its merit meaning majority will be given redress but not all.

Lloyd’s spokesman promises instead, that it will individually handle complaints “fairly and consistently” regardless of the time they were raised, and that it will guarantee response to each PPI complaint submitted before May 6, by concluding August.

“For customers that have submitted a complaint on or after this date, we will provide a full response within 16 weeks of receiving that complaint.”

RBS and Natwest echoed Lloyds statement by guaranteeing to handle each complaint via compliance to the FSA guidelines.

It was early Monday that Barclays announced its pay out to its customers who complained before April 20, the total amount of all premiums and added interest of 8%.

Barclays played the good guy by reiterating its statement, “We have said before that when we get things wrong, we apologize, and work hard and work fast to put them right as quickly as possible.”

The UK-based bank added it is “cooperating closely with the City regulators FSA and Financial Ombudsman Service in recognition of the delay their customers have experienced while waiting final judicial review, and can confirm they are contacting customers with an offer to settle their complaint in full as a gesture of goodwill.”

In addition, the letters confirming the bank’s intentions will be given out to customers this week. The bank tells their account holders to expect another letter on August 31 that will indicate full specifications of their reimbursement.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has given three high-street banks; Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland, more time to settle new PPI complaints in order to clear the backlog of PPI claims that were placed on hold pending the outcome of the Judicial Review.

Under the FSA guidelines, PPI complaints must be answered within 8 weeks. Howerver, the City Regulator has agreed to extent this to 16 weeks for the banks mentioned above.

The contract stated complaints that were frozen during the judicial review will be given a final decision by concluding August; while complaints raised after the High Court ruling on or prior to August 31 will be answered to in 16 weeks, and those that were launched on or following September 1 and earlier than December 31 will be answered during the 12-week period.

However the FSA stated the handling extensions depended on individual banks’ update on their complainants and keeping the FSA informed on their observance.

According to the FSA interim managing director, Margaret Cole, finishing the back pile of complaints was a subject of “urgency”.

She stated, “We want to see all PPI claims for compensation dealt with swiftly and appropriately.”  And stated “it is not in the interests of consumers to receive further poor handling of their complaints as a result.”

The FSA will be expecting all complaints to resume to its eight-week processing starting the first day of January next year, 2012.