The Banksters

The Financial Conduct Authority allows banks accused of mis-selling “swap” loans to appoint external reviewers and devise their own processes. They are paying former treasury bankers £1000 a day to conduct reviews whilst telling customers they do not need expert help in the process. If a client's complaint is rejected, however, he is then told by the bank to seek independent advice. The customer has to identify exactly what was wrong with the sale and what the bank should have done, though he didn't understand it at the time.

Former Bank of Ireland banker Scott Cowan, has said banks are discouraging customers from seeking support in the review process, whilst deploying £1000-a-day bankers and up to two lawyers across the table. He said one client had contacted him on the eve of a meeting at his home, involving two lawyers and a banker, which was to be recorded. "In any other walk of life, you would not want to go into a recorded meeting with two lawyers without getting some advice.

Edinburgh law firm MBM Commercial has already warned that banks have "a series of set questions aimed at eliciting material which will enable them to exclude the customer from the review and so block any redress".