Related Companies

• Alliance & Leicester

Related Indices

• FTSE All-Share
• FTSEurofirst 300
• FTSE 250
• FTSE 350

Related Sectors

• Banks

News for Spread Betters

Previous

Next

There's a new Investor Edition of CMC Markets' spread betting platform... and it's exclusive to DigitalLook.com users...

Get full details about Marketmaker:Investor Edition here.

News for Spread Betters

Previous

Next

There's a new Investor Edition of CMC Markets' spread betting platform... and it's exclusive to DigitalLook.com users...

Get full details about Marketmaker:Investor Edition here.

Unsecured Loans

Previous

Next

Lighten the load of all those repayments with a low rate unsecured loan. This month's selected offers:

1. Barclays Loans
2. Halifax Loans

AMEX Platinum

Previous

Next

Money back on your spendings? With American Express Platinum MoneyBack card, you can get

• 5% Money Back* during your first 3 months, then
• standard Money Back rate up to 1.5% with
• typical APR 18.9% variable

Why look further? Apply now!

Digital Look's Best Picks

Previous

Next

Your money can work for you! Get it going with one of this month’s high interest current accounts:

1. A&L Premier Direct
2. Coventry First Account
3. Co-operative Current Plus

By Lee Wild

Date: Tuesday 07 Oct 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - Mortgage lender Alliance & Leicester has been fined a record £7m by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for “serious failings” regarding telephone sales of payment protection insurance (PPI) on personal loans.

The UK firm, being taken over by Spain's Santander for £1.3bn, was found guilty of not telling customers how much PPI would cost and failing to consider whether they really needed it.

It sold around 210,000 PPI policies between January 2005 and December 2007 to customers seeking a personal loan at an average price of £1,265.

“A&L did not make it sufficiently clear that PPI was optional and it trained its staff to put pressure on customers where they queried the inclusion of PPI in their quotation or challenged advisers’ recommendations,” said the FSA.

“These failings resulted in unacceptable levels of non-compliant sales and a high risk of unsuitable sales over the three year period.”

FSA Director of Enforcement Margaret Cole said the failing were the “most serious” the financial regulator has found.

The fine would have been a whopping £10m had A&L not qualified for a 30% reduction in penalty by settling at an early stage of the FSA's investigation.

“I apologise sincerely for our shortcomings,” said chief executive David Bennett. “We will be writing to every customer concerned and will be working with independent accountants and the FSA to ensure that we put right any disadvantage identified.”

The bank has committed to implement a customer contact programme, overseen by third party accountants.

• News Channel