New complaints data for financial services may confuse consumers as it does not allow like-for-like comparisons, the Association of British Insurance (ABI) has warned.

The ABI said the current format for publishing the data, made public yesterday, will not help consumers towards comparing the performance of different groups for specific products on like-for-like basis.

It cited products like motor and home insurance as examples of those for which the performance of the different groups cannot be easily compared.

The group added, through its Director of Consumer Strategy Maggie Craig, that: "Without this level of detail, the published data will be of no real help to consumers."

They also expressed their concern that in the absence of the right context the data might be misleading.

Firms are now required, according to the data, to report to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) every six months on the number of complaints they receive and how they are handled.

Reports said the data revealed that complaints against life insurers dropped while those against general insurance and pure protection rose.