Front and centre: FCA annuity probe highlights value of advice

The Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) investigation into mis-sold annuities between 2008 and 2014 is a welcome one. An enhanced annuity can increase a person's income by up to 60%, so many thousands of pounds of income may have been denied to some 600,000 retirees. The investigation should also come as no surprise, given that the regulator told providers to improve their communication with regards to shopping around for enhanced annuities seven years ago. In my mind, though, the FCA should also look at the wider reasons behind how this happened. One obvious answer is companies...