Industry

One in five people may be paying into critical illness insurance policies which are effectively invalid, says the Ombudsman.

LENDERS ARE now offering mortgages equal to six times salary to first-time buyers desperate to get a foot on the property ladder, as house prices soar out of reach, says the Daily Telegraph .

Barclays' plans to shift its headquarters to Amsterdam as part of its £80bn negotiations with Dutch bank ABN Amro are likely to raise concerns about the firm's regulation by the FSA, reports the Guardian .

Larger businesses are failing to cope efficiently with consumer complaints because they are allocating resources to "the race for size" instead, suggests chief ombudsman Walter Merricks.

Lending figures published by the Building Societies Association and the British Bankers' Association have strengthened the case for hawks at the Monetary Policy Committee.

The Financial Services Authority has published a set of web pages for small firms to help them understand the treating customers fairly initiative.

Five of the UK's largest mortgage brokers have clubbed together in what they are stating is a loose coalition designed to give them better bargaining power with lenders.

Criticisms of the retail financial distribution model by the Financial Services Authority and the Ombudsman Service, particularly over the use of commissions, have provoked a flurry of angry responses from IFAs.

Criticisms of the retail financial distribution model by the Financial Services Authority and the Financial Ombudsman Service, particularly over the use of commissions, have provoked a flurry of angry responses from IFAs.