The UK Financial Services Authority has published the findings from its latest review of payment protection insurance selling standards, which showed improvements in some areas, although it appears many firms are still failing to treat their customers fairly.
The Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) latest review assessed whether firms had made improvements in five key areas. Improvements were found in two of these: the vast majority of firms are now making it clear to customers that payment protection insurance (PPI) is optional; and firms are now offering cancellation refunds on virtually all single premium PPI policies.
However, little or no progress has been made in the other three areas; many firms are still not giving customers clear information about the product and what it will cost; not telling them the extent to which they are eligible for PPI cover and what they are covered for; and not telling them why, where advice is given, the recommended PPI policy meets their demands and needs.
The review looked at 150 firms, including mystery shopping of personal loan providers. The mystery shopping identified serious failures in the sales processes of a number of firms selling single premium PPI alongside unsecured personal loans.
Clive Briault, FSA managing director of retail markets, said: We have, on a number of occasions, set out clearly our requirements for the selling of PPI. While some progress has been made by the industry, we are extremely disappointed that some firms have still made little progress in improving their sales practices.