Lloyds Banking Group has set the target of a 20% reduction in customer complaints.

Group chief executive, Ant&oacutenio Horta-Os&oacuterio, made the announcement yesterday at an internal conference.

It also confirmed that the group is to continue its multi-brand strategy through its main commercial brands of Lloyds TSB, Halifax and Bank of Scotland.

The group set out a series of measurable targets to reduce the number of customer complaints, the first financial services company to explicitly target a reduction in the number of complaints it receives.

Lloyds Banking Group aims to reduce the overall number of complaints it receives by 20% – from the first six months of 2010 to the same period in 2011 (excluding complaints received about Payment Protection Insurance).

The group is also committing to a 20% reduction in the number of complaints customers escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) because they do not feel that their complaint has been resolved satisfactorily.

It also argues that improving complaint handling will also reduce the number of complaints escalated to FOS which are then overturned in favour of the customer. The group aims to reduce the number of complaints overturned by FOS to less than two in five by the end of June 2011 and then, again, to one in five by the end of this year.

Horta-Os&oacuterio said: “We have some great brands with their own unique histories and different customer bases. Our multi-brand approach recognises those differences and we will build compelling propositions according to those customers.