Big UK bank shares rose early on Friday before easing as the PPI scandal, which has severely blighted the sector in recent years, appeared to have an end in sight.
The regulator FCA is launching a consultation to decide whether there should be a deadline, after which customers can no longer make a claim, and that is expected to be in the spring of 2018.
The PPI, or payment protection insurance, debacle has been rumbling on for at least a decade.
PPI is insurance sold by institutions and banks alongside a loan or equivalent aimed at protecting individuals if they fall ill or lose income, but in many cases was deemed mis-sold.
It is estimated that around an eye-watering £20bn has been paid out in claims for miss-selling to more than 10mln customers.
In June this year, Lloyds (LON:LLOY), the bank most exposed, was clouted with a record £117mln fine over mishandled claims, after it had already set aside £12bn to deal with them. At its peak in 2012, Lloyds was getting up to 60,000 complaints a week.
Alliance and Leicester received a £7mln fine from the FCA for their part in the controversy, while Capital One, HFC and Egg were also fined up to £1.1mln.
Complaints are still coming in daily from consumers to institutions, but the numbers are now finally easing off.
Reportedly, in the first half of 2015 alone more than 883,000 customers made complaints, but that was still a drop of 16.6% compared to the same period in 2014.
The FCA say a deadline would help spur on people to make any outstanding claims and bring the whole issue to an "orderly conclusion", along with helping to rebuild public trust in institutions.
In terms of banking investors, Mike Van Dulken, at online trading group Accendo Markets, said the FCA news should be well-received.
"As the bailout banks RBS and LLOY return to profitability and resume dividends post-crisis, any mis-selling hindrances being put to bed will be music to investors’ ears...", he said.
"This dark cloud has hung over the sector for what seems like and age and cost an already battered sector from the financial crisis dear (£26.5bn so far)."
"While this (the deadline) might seem like a way off to short-term investors, it would at least put an end to what has been a seemingly never-ending stream of provisions, stalking banks’ financial results quarter in, quarter out," said the analyst.
Barclays (LON:BARC) shares rose 1.54% to 250.95p before falling to 245.85p, Lloyds rose 2.3% to 76.9p before dropping to 76.21p and RBS (LON:RBS) added 2.13% before losing 0.5%.