A BUSINESSMAN and former commercial banking director has hit out at high street banks for continuing to court poor publicity over the widely-condemned rate-swap scandal.

Dave Jones, managing director at Bolton-based Progressive Business Mentoring, is critical of the banks for their slow response after the Financial Conduct Authority found serious failing in the sale of Interest Rate Hedging Products (IRHP) to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).

IRHPs allowed companies to “fix” their interest rate, but businesses lost out when the rate fell below the threshold.

In August 2012, the banks announced they agreed with the FCA to review the sale of all IRHP products sold from 2001.

The review followed concerns expressed by the FCA after it was revealed that more than 90 per cent had not complied with the sale standards agreed with the authority.

According Mr Jones, statistics confirm that around 80 per cent of IRHPs have been found to be mis-sold.

He said: “The banks have employed an army of people to independently review these products and there is now strong evidence that the banks’ offers of redress are gaining momentum.

“The average compensation pay out for businesses I have been advising is around £150,000 and once this is agreed there is the subject of cons-equential loss to consider, which in some instances can often dwarf the initial redress figure.

“Perhaps surprisingly, the latest information suggests that for some banks, only a small percentage of their customers eligible for review have come forward.”

Mr Jones says there is also increasing evidence that some of the banks are inviting their customers in to discuss the matter, only to find that when they do so they are joined by the bank’s solicitors and an independent reviewer appointed by the bank.

He added: “I would strongly recommend that business owners take their own legal advice before engaging with their bank.

“As confirmed by the FCA’s own statistics, there are many business owners who either had or still have an IRHP that they may have been mis-sold but have done nothing about it.

“For their own and their businesses sake, they need to act now.”