FSA: Industry has 'itself to blame' for low consumer confidence

The FSA's acting enforcement head, Tracey McDermott, said the financial services industry is failing to heed the lessons of previous failures and "has no-one but itself to blame" for low consumer confidence in the sector.

Speaking at the City and Financial Conference, McDermott picked on a number of incidents of mis-selling by financial advisers. She said: "How could any adviser ever have thought that selling a 94-year-old with a three-year life expectancy a five-year product was fair? "How could any adviser have thought that investing large proportions - or even all - of a customer's retirement fund into high risk Unregulated Collective Investment Schemes was suitable advice? "Why did advisers tell clients to invest in products they themselves did not understand?" McDermott went on: "It really i...