From the Ed: Aviva has questions to answer over axed phone service

FROM THE EDITOR

Scott Sinclair
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This week we discovered that a telephone advice service offered by Aviva - originally believed to be a casualty of the provider's decision to exit advised sales in May - was, in fact, pulled months earlier after an audit flagged concerns over the quality of advice given to customers.

All 12 of the advisers working on Aviva’s Regulated Telephony Team, a tied offering, were suspended following the inspection, with disciplinary hearings ultimately leading to two of the 12 losing their jobs for gross misconduct, as I understand it. So far, so good – not for the advisers concerned or some of their customers, perhaps, but in terms of Aviva spotting a problem and acting on it, further consumer detriment may have been spared. At least that’s how it appears from a regulatory viewpoint. The truth may be somewhat different as it has been made clear that some of the advisers ...

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