The Chartered Insurance Institute has raised the spectre of mis-selling in the mortgage market, should amendments not be made to the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) training and competence proposals.
Dr Sandy Scott, director general of the Chartered Insurance Institute, commented: ‘If the recommendations are adopted we believe that in order to avoid the extra training and examination required, firms could potentially offer a level of advice that does not meet with consumers’ needs. We believe this could lead to confusion for consumers with the potential for mis-selling.’
A spokesman for the FSA said: ‘We would not wish to comment on individual submissions and any comments we have to make will appear in our feedback document.’
However, Steve Radford, public relations manager for the Chartered Insurance Institute, said he believed the institute’s educational training resource was ‘particularly suited for such training and competence needs,’ and that dialogue was already underway between the two bodies about future collaboration.
Dr Scott concluded: ‘We would welcome the opportunity to work with the FSA to develop an appropriate syllabus for a mortgage examination and for any specialist modules that may be required.’
