The ban relates to the mishandling of mortgage endowment complaints.
The FSA confirmed that it had taken action against Jonathan Leigh Hardie following failings in endowment complaints handling at his firm, Primedale Financial Services.
It revealed that Hardie failed to assess complaints fairly and objectively and did not undertake investigations of complaints and suitability of recommendations.
Hardie also failed to give customers proper, fair and balanced reasons for rejecting complaints in final response letters and did not identify and remedy recurring problems.
Commenting on the enforcement action, Jonathan Phelan, head of retail enforcement at the FSA, said: "Our action should leave firms in no doubt that the FSA places great emphasis on the importance of adequate complaints handling systems and individuals responsible for handling complaints should take steps to assess complaints fairly, consistently and effectively.”
In recent weeks the regulator has also taken action against a number of mortgage brokers who provided false information on clients to mortgage lenders and the FSA. The FSA reiterated its desire to move towards principles-based regulation and warned those in the industry to prepare for the upcoming ‘Treating Customers Fairly’ deadline.
