A new chapter for high-street banks in the PPI mis-selling saga

The PPI mis-selling scandal is nearly over for the banks. But a new nightmare may be just about to begin.

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Snazzy new tech is eating the banks' lunch
(Image credit: Woman paying for a coffee with her phone © Getty Images)

Lloyds has just seen six years of profits wiped out at a single stroke. RBS has posted a huge quarterly loss. Barclays and Santander have taken big hits. The payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling scandal has turned into a neverending nightmare for the main banks. The policies came with so many conditions they were virtually worthless and almost all were mis-sold. Over the last few years the banks have paid out an estimated £44bn in compensation to millions of customers.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.