Long-stop crusader doubts Sants' pledge

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An adviser threatened by the FSA for adding a complaints long-stop to his terms of business contracts says Hector Sants' pledge to consider reintroducing the rule was a 'sop' to advisers.

Phil Castle, director of Financial Escape, said Sants’ pledge during the Treasury Select Committee (TSC) hearing on RDR last week was designed simply to placate angry advisers. During the debate, Sants said the regulator would revisit the issue of a time-bar on client complaints. He said: "I have some sympathy with the argument that says if people are still concerned and if this committee recommends us to look at [the long-stop] again, it is something we could do. But Castle, who was involved in a legal wrangle with the FSA over the issue, says: “I think the FSA threw sops to placa...

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