The Financial Services Authority has fined Abbey £800,000 for the mishandling of mortgage endowment complaints. They found that between October 1st, 2001 and September 30th 2003, Abbey mishandled around 5,000 complaints including 3,500, which were rejected when they should have been upheld. Abbey also provided the regulator with inaccurate and potentially misleading information regarding the proper handling of mortgage endowment complaints. Determining the level of penalty, the Financial Services Authority recognised that Abbey had co-operated fully and quickly agreed the facts with the regulator to enable an early settlement of the case. Had they not responded in this way, a far higher penalty would have been imposed.
Our view
More sad news for the financial services industry reputation.