Saga paid out £156k for mis-sold LTC funds

Cynical?

Bravo for such swift action by Saga. Did the individual responsible go to another financial services company or was the reference enough to deter any potential new employer? If Saga deemed it serious enough to 'let the person go' then he/she should be in another occupation by now.

Posted by: Paul

Does the author know?

What exactly were Saga fined for?

Posted by: snooks

@snooks

...Saga were not fined for the mis-selling. Rather the organisation spotted the problem and paid customer redress quickly.

Posted by: Ed

Only half a tale

Many thanks for your kind comments Phil. However, at the risk of being called pedantic (yet again) IFAs don't actually need the FSA, consumers do. I do fully agree that the FSA need IFAs, a factor neither side does not yet fully comprehend. As the FOS statistics indicate it is the direct sales organisations, i.e banks, insurance companies, building societies, that create the greatest cost and the greatest level of complaints. Without being complacent about IFA failures, they have, in the main, been a very positive and beneficial factor in providing clients with a fair deal. Take away that controlling factor and the problem areas get larger, and the FSA's job much harder. I read all the IFA comments and wonder why they are so inward looking, desperately trying to be good boys, obeying the rules, and thereby hanging onto their jobs. I can understand the pressure to have a job in the current climate, but, in truth, the underlying sentiments have not changed in the last few years. Yet the terms under which IFAs operate are continually declining due to the penal rulings of the FSA. I suspect that in any other occupation or profession there would have been a walk out years ago. Every IFA now runs the risk of providing quality advice to clients and still be hounded out through no fault of the IFA. If every IFA were to say to the the FSA that the rulebook and the regulatory procedures had to follow the Rule of Law and good commercial practice or every IFA would resign in December 2012, even Parliament would want to know what was going on. I wouldn't for a second expect the IFA community to have the strength of purpose to present such an ultimatum in the next 12 months. I would though be interested in reviewing the market in 36 months time when IFAs find that the providers are unable to cope with the changes, service starts to deteriorate, costs start to rise and clients are getting angrier by the day. I suspect that IFAs will adapt, but I also suspect the adaption may not be entirely in favour of clients. Part of the reason for survival will be the monopolistic position of IFAs (which is already being commented on) and monopolies are rarely beneficial to consumers. It is merely a hypothesis but a combination of a monopolistic position and a sharp decline in IFA numbers may cause the FSA regulatory problems in 2 to 3 years time. It would be dangerous to drive out IFAs through disciplinary action if that creates such small numbers the advisory market is unsustainable, except as an indulgence for the rich. Advice would then have to be provided to the majority of the populace by the major institutions, who are currently in the process of withdrawing. The FSA would need to create a positive environment before the major companies would comeback, and I don't think William Hill would bother taking any bets on the quality of service this would provide. However this is viewed the FSA put themselves in an untenable position. Just a hypothesis, but it does support the view that they need IFAs, whilst IFAs do not need the FSA. Clients, sadly, are merely casualties in the war. I wonder if Parliament really cares? I wonder if consumers/voters are aware that Parliament doesn't care or understand. Or that TCF is merely an FSA slogan, not a true objective. I suspect that over the next 12 months IFAs may be in a more powerful position than they have ever been before. It would take the co-ordinated action of 10,000 to 15,000 IFAs to threaten to resign from regulated advice in December 2011 to bring the matter to a head. But it may be easier to find flying pigs.

Posted by: Glen McKeown