Complaints against IFAs fall but misleading advice on the increase

Misleading advice complaints increased by 19%, though this was not due to independent advisers, according to figures from the FSA. The overall number of complaints against financial services firms rose by 2% to 1.5m in the first half of 2009. However, complaints against personal investment firms, the category under which most IFAs fall, actually fell marginally, from 17,173 in the second half of 2008 to 17,160 in the first six months of this year. Despite this, complaints relating to misleading advice jumped 19% to 207,967. General insurance and pure protection saw a 32% jump in...