Financial Conduct Authority

Advisers are increasingly imposing fees on customers who switch or cancel protection policies. Adviser Mark Sleaford is not impressed

Advisory firms have successfully adapted to the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) but the cost of regulation remains a massive barrier to development, the Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) has said.

Technology giant's price comparison service being watched as part of wider review.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has uncovered widespread shortcomings in consumer credit promotions, such as payday loan advertisements.

Mortgage lenders must not rely solely on the Mortgage Market Review's affordability testing to prevent customers falling into arrears, a mortgage servicer has warned.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is considering ways it can make it clearer to consumers when they are buying products on a non-advised basis online, as more web-based advice solutions are developed.

Just 18 individuals were fined by the regulator for misconduct, breaches of the rules or failures in their duties in 2013, a fall of 40% from 30 three years' before.

Nearly three quarters of firms are still failing to show clients the true cost of advice, the regulator has found in what it calls a "wake-up call" for the industry which has already put two firms at risk of enforcement action.

Chancellor George Osborne has written to the chairman of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) criticising the regulator for its "damaging" behaviour in releasing details of its investigation into insurance policies before a formal announcement.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has clarified its aims on how it will tackle consumer detriment following reports of an investigation into historic life policies.