The regulator said financial promotions were one of the clearest signs of whether a firm was complying with the principles of Treating Customers Fairly (TCF), with three of the key TCF outcomes directly relevant to advertising.
The regulator said it wanted firms to focus on making sure promotions conveyed a fair and clear message to the consumer and insisted the firm was in the best position to judge what their client would draw from it.
Speaking at the FSA’s Financial Promotions Conference, Nausicaa Delfas, head of ‘Treating Customers Fairly’ (TCF) strategy, Financial Promotions and unfair terms, said: “Clear communications are a key component of how firms apply our over-arching TCF objective in practice. Providing fair, clear and not misleading information to customers is a very visible means by which a firm can display adherence with the TCF principles.
“TCF in Financial Promotions means firms standing in the shoes of their customers and judging objectively what they will take away from an advertisement. In the words of a well known advert – ‘does it do what it says on the tin’? If not, then firms are not helping consumers achieve a fair deal.”
Delfas said the new regime for Financial Promotions would come into force on 1 November 2007.
Andy Pratt, chief operating officer at Alexander Hall, commented: “It’s about time as I know a lot of people have been making representations to the FSA to get the rules changed. Currently, they are too stringent and inconsistent and most of the issues flagged up are for trivial matters like font size.
“However, there is still an inconsistency between mortgage lender and intermediary disclaimers that I would like to see addressed.”
