UK's FTSE 100 inched lower on Wednesday as financials stocks declined, offsetting gains in mining and energy shares ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates next week.

Both the blue-chip FTSE 100 and the midcap FTSE 250 dipped 0.2% by 11:05 GMT, on track to log declines for the third straight session.

Heavyweight banks shares dropped almost 1%, after gains in the previous session.

Britain's financial regulator said it will lift the pause on handling motor finance complaints on May 31, 2026, two months earlier than initially proposed, as it finalises a compensation scheme for those hit by a mis-selling scandal.

The scandal, which dates back to 2007, involves lenders such as Lloyds, Close Brothers and Barclays , which are accused of using excessively high interest rates in car-finance arrangements and including extra bonus payments.

Lloyd's Banking lost 1%, while Close Brothers and Barclays declined 1.5% and 0.6%, respectively.

HSBC Holdings, which named interim chair Brendan Nelson as permanent CEO in a surprise move, fell 1.1%.

Investment banks and brokerages declined 1.2%. Asset manager Intermediate Capital Group declined 2.3%.

Among individual stocks, Spire Healthcare plunged 15% after the hospital group warned annual profit would come in at the bottom end of guidance.

Sainsbury fell 4% after a term sheet showed that Qatar's sovereign wealth fund plans to reduce its stake in the supermarket chain.

On the flip side, energy stocks gained 0.7% as Russia said talks with U.S. officials in Moscow failed to reach a compromise on a potential Ukraine peace deal.

Industrial metal miners rose 1%, tracking higher copper prices. Glencore, Rio Tinto, Antofagasta and Anglo American gained between 1.3% and 1.8%. Precious metal miners added 1%.

Smiths Group added 1.5%, after the engineering firm said it had agreed to sell its baggage-screening unit to CVC Capital for $2.65 billion.

(Reporting by Utkarsh Tushar Hathi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)