More than 3,800 complaints were lodged with the Financial Services Ombudsman last year in what was an increase of 14 per cent compared with the previous year.
At the publication of his annual report today the Ombudsman, Joe Meade, said he would be willing to "name and shame" financial institutions if, following public consultation on the matter, it was decided that this would be of value.
However, he warned that if financial institutions were named it could be the case that complainants might be named too, in the interests of natural justice, and Mr Meade cautioned that this could deter complaints.
There were over 10,000 telephone inquiries to the Ombudsman's office in 2006. Last year saw a 37 per cent rise in complaints about credit institutions. He said 60 per cent of complaints were resolved in the complainants' favour.
Part of this is attributable to the fact that credit unions and stockbrokers only came under the Ombudsman's remit last year.
More than 1,300 of the complaints were against banks and 116 involved building societies.
There was a slight increase in complaints about insurance companies, with 2,229 complaints lodged last year.
Travel insurance attracted the most complaints, with over 500 reported to the ombudsman last year.
Mr Meade said the compensation awards made by him last year included amounts of €7.4 million, €140,000, €90,000 and €40,000 - details of which have already been published.