David Prosser: The FSA's low opinion of those it regulates
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The product chosen by the Financial Services Authority for its first attempt to offer providers guidance on design could not be more fitting. If only the regulator had been able to intervene in the market this way before payment protection insurance turned into a billion-pound mis-selling scandal.
Still, the sort of features the regulator said yesterday it would henceforth look for from PPI makes one wonder what it thinks about the financial services industry's ability to learn from its mistakes. The FSA is concerned about firms failing to identify the right type of customers for such insurance, that policies might not offer what customers need and that products can be so confusing, comparisons are impossible.
All sensible stuff, of course, but have financial services companies really sunk so low that they need to be specifically told to design their products with such basic issues in mind?
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments