The campaign calls for an ‘industry standard’ user guide which will help brokers ensure they are compliant by producing templates and clarifying FSA Financial Promotions rules. MI launched ‘Promoting the Standard’ in response to industry frustration over the vast amount of non-compliant advertisements still visible in the press and the FSA’s apparent lack of action on the issue.
Mike Fitzgerald, sales director of Brentchase Financial Services, was among the first industry professionals to pledge their support. He said: “We support this campaign and would adhere to the proposed industry standard. Any initiative that works towards improving standards is a good thing.
“Too many firms are still ignoring the rules or are finding them too open to interpretation and so are unsure what their promotions should look like. A campaign like this will hopefully make things clearer so brokers are compliant.”
Jonathan Cornell, technical director at Hamptons International Mortgages, agreed: “Financial Promotions is an area where there are people trying hard to comply in the spirit of regulation and make genuine mistakes but there are also those who make no attempt to get it right. Anything that can help brokers stay on the right side of the law is a great idea.”
Andy Pratt, chief operations officer at Alexander Hall, outlined a potential solution to the Financial Promotions problem. He said: “The FSA currently won’t sign any Financial Promotions off. To help, it could ‘score’ adverts from one to five; ‘one’ being, for example, the font for the disclaimer is too small while ‘five’ means it should be taken out of circulation immediately.”
To support or comment on the ‘Promoting the Standard’ campaign please contact Scott Philipson at: [email protected]
