Lloyds bank agrees to stop PPI sales

Lloyds bank has today agreed to withdraw PPI, payment protection insurance, from the list of services provided by the group. Earlier this year we saw the regulators suggesting that the way in which PPI is sold to the general public should change in the future. A cooling off period and a more detailed analysis of the total cost of PPI, together with discussions regarding the fact that many consumers may already be covered, were just two proposals put forward.

The announcement by Lloyds bank, which is likely to be copied by many other institutions in the UK, comes just 24 hours ahead of a Financial Ombudsman Service report. The report is expected to show that nearly 150 people a day have logged complaints about PPI in the three months to the end of June, up from 135 a day last year. A number of financial institutions have been accused of "mis-selling PPI contracts" although these claims have been refuted by the likes of Barclays bank and a number of UK institutions are taking action to prevent the withdrawal of PPI.

It will be interesting to see how the Financial Ombudsman Service report goes down in the city and indeed whether it does officially sound the death knell for PPI.