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Savings providers fined for misleading marketing

17/06/2014

Credit Suisse and the Yorkshire Building Society have been fined by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for the use of “misleading” marketing when promoting an investment product.

Credit Suisse was fined £2.4m, whilst Yorkshire Building Society received a smaller fine of £1.5m.

The financial services institutions, which both accepted the fines, were found to have promoted unrealistic returns to customers who had limited investment experience.

The product was sold to 83,777 people, who had a combined investment of £797m – an average of £9,513 per investor.

However, it was claimed that the chance of these investors getting the maximum return was “close to 0%”; whilst there was only a 40-50% chance of getting back the minimum return that was promoted.

Serious Breach



Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement and financial crime at the FCA, said the promotions were “a serious breach of the requirement to be clear, fair and not misleading”.

She continued to say: “Credit Suisse and Yorkshire Building Society knew that the chances of receiving the maximum return were close to zero but they nevertheless highlighted this as a key promotional feature of the product. This was unacceptable."

Credit Suisse accepted these findings and said in a statement:

"We have taken this matter very seriously, have fully co-operated with the FCA's investigation and have agreed a comprehensive redress process under which affected retail customers will be eligible to claim compensation."

Additionally, Yorkshire Building Society was similarly apologetic, saying: “On this occasion we have fallen short of our own high standards, and putting the customers at the heart of everything we do.”

They also agreed to give all affected customers the option to “exit their account and receive an appropriate rate of interest, or to retain their account until maturity.”



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