UK watchdog to set 2-year time limit on PPI claims

LONDON, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 2 (Reuters) - Britain's financial regulator said it planned to impose a two-year deadline for customers to claim compensation for mis-sold loan insurance, drawing a line under Britain's costliest consumer finance scandal.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Friday it planned to introduce the deadline for consumers to claim they were mis-sold payment protection policies, or lose their right to have them assessed.

The FCA said it aimed to issue a consultation by the end of the year, and set the deadline two years from the rules coming into force. The new rules would not come in before spring 2016, so consumers will have until have until at least spring 2018 to complain, it said.

The FCA said the time limit would also apply to complaints in light of a landmark legal ruling last year by the Supreme Court.

Banks have already set aside more than 28 billion pounds to compensate customers PPI policies, which were supposed to protect borrowers in the event of sickness or unemployment but were often sold to people who would have been ineligible to claim. (Reporting by Steve Slater. Editing by Jane Merriman)