Banks seek support for PPI deadline Britain's banks are in talks with the City watchdog to enlist its support for a deadline to be imposed for compensation claims in one of the UK's costliest consumer scandals. Lenders want a deadline of May 2014 to be set on claims lodged by customers saying they were mis-sold payment protection insurance as compensation costs snowball, according to one senior executive. The British Bankers" Association is in talks with the Financial Services Authority over whether a deadline on when claims can be submitted can be set, according to people with knowledge of the situation. It has tabled a proposal whereby the industry would agree to fund an advertising campaign telling people how to claim, someone close to the situation said. An announcement from the regulator, which considered the issue at a board meeting on Thursday, could come as soon as Friday. The BBA said that discussions with the FSA over the issue are ongoing and declined to comment further. Last year the CBI, the UK employers" organisation, called on the government to curb compensation payouts. John Cridland, the CBI's director-general, said that banks" funds could be better spent on lending to the economy. PPI has become one of the most expensive consumer scandals in history having already cost Britain's biggest banks more than £10bn in funds set aside for compensation, raising questions about what the total final cost to the industry will be. Although not every PPI policy will have been mis-sold and not every customer will claim, regulators estimate that £34bn worth of policies were sold between 2001 and 2010. A further tranche of provisions is expected when banks report results in the coming weeks. The Bank of England's prudential panel, the Financial Policy Committee, warned in November that the cost of scandals hitting banks, including PPI, was eating into capital levels. Under standard statute of limitations rules, consumers are able to claim compensation up to six years after the date they were mis-sold a product. However, they are also eligible for compensation for up to three years after the date on which they first became aware they were mis-sold a policy, a definition which is more opaque. Any suggestion of a deadline is likely to provoke the ire of claims management companies (CMCs), firms that offer to submit complaints to lenders on behalf of customers in exchange for a cut of any compensation paid out. "Our primary concern remains that consumers who have been the victim of mis-selling have sufficient time and support to reclaim what is rightfully theirs," said Craig Bernhardt, chief executive of Emcas, a claims management company. By looking to implement a cut-off date, inevitably many consumers owed compensation for mis-sold PPI would lose their opportunity. Banks, in turn, have accused them of submitting thousands of bogus PPI claims, while consumer groups have criticised them for using aggressive marketing tactics.