The financial services sector regulator received a record 3.7 million complaints related to payment protection insurance issues over the second half of 2019, the highest level ever for the controversial cover.

The flurry of complaints, more than half of six million filed, came as customers rushed to make the Financial Conduct Authority's 29 August claims deadline for refunds on PPI cover, the FCA said on 16 April. PPI cover typically deals with repayments where a consumers cannot make them, due to, for example, redundancy, an accident or death.