Endowment

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) levy for investment advisers will increase by almost 400% in the 2009/10 financial year due to an expected increase in mis-selling and property claims.

Two firms have been fined a total of £45,500 by the FSA for failings relating to the sale of geared traded endowment policies.

Advisers have criticised suggestions that most endowment mortgages were mis-sold.

Nine in ten Britons with an endowment policy believe they were victims of mis-selling, according to research by Fairinvestment.co.uk.

aap, an endowment trader, has launched an endowment policy process website for IFAs.

Mortgage endowment complaints still formed the largest piles on desks at the Financial Ombudsman Service, but they're down a third on last year.

The Financial Service Authority says an investigation into the use of endowment time bars has found companies are applying them fairly, contrary to criticism from consumer bodies.

The Association of British Insurers says figures it has compiled suggest mortgage endowment customers get a better deal by complaining direct to their providers rather than using claims management companies.

The Treasury is changing the rules governing the status of friendly society investment plans so policyholders are not penalised if the business is transferred to another insurance company.

A spoof website has sprung up on the internet which claims to be the voice of the Financial Services Authority but anonymously presents the financial regulator in a bad light.