Complaints by consumers to the Financial Services Ombudsman increased 14 per cent last year, according to new figures published by the ombudsman, Joe Meade.

Mr Meade has either upheld or negotiated settlements on behalf of 60 per cent of complainants since he took office. The ombudsman dealt with a total of 3,795 complaints in 2006, compared to 3,337 complaints in 2005.

There was a 37 per cent jump in complaints about credit institutions. However, this can partly be attributed to the fact that credit unions and stockbrokers came under the ombudsman's remit for the first time last year.

There were 1,302 complaints against banks, 116 involving building societies and 54 about intermediaries. Some 33 disputes involved credit unions, while there were 30 cases against stockbrokers.

Complaints about insurance companies increased by 2 per cent to 2,229. This included 100 complaints against health insurers.

But the type of insurance that generated the most disputes was travel insurance, which yielded 501 complaints.

Most complaints against credit institutions involved maladministration, while the rejection of a claim prompted the most complaints against insurers.

Mr Meade said his office had cleared more than 80 per cent of its caseload, which included a large number of complaints registered with the two voluntary ombudsman schemes for insurers and credit institutions before the statutory financial services ombudsman's bureau was established in April 2005.

Meanwhile, Ulster Bank appealed to the Supreme Court on December 22nd following the ombudsman's decision to direct the bank to pay €7.4 million in compensation to customers who suffered a 15 per cent cut in the value of the bank's international share portfolio.