Financial Regulator highlights concerns about advertising

Press release issued today 13th June

Financial Regulator Highlights Advertising Requirements of Consumer Protection Code​

The Financial Regulator has written to regulated firms highlighting its main areas of concern regarding the advertising of financial products and services in advance of the Consumer Protection Code <http://www.ifsra.ie/data/pub_files/Code_Doc_rollover-4-2.pdf> being fully implemented from 1 July 2007. By highlighting these issues to regulated firms the Financial Regulator is seeking to promote and encourage compliance with the Code. A copy of this letter is available by clicking on this link. <https://www.financialregulator.ie/data/pub_files/Letter to industry re advertising requirements in Consumer Protection Code.pdf>

The Financial Regulator actively monitors the advertising of financial services and products and issues referred from other sources including consumer complaints. The main areas of concern that have been identified to date in respect of financial services advertising issues are outlined below. Firms should consider their advertising in the context of the general principles and rules set out in the Code to ensure that all advertisements are clear, fair and not misleading.

· The use of misleading or incorrect terms;
· The inadequate size of the print used and rushed disclosures;
· Omission of required information;
· The use of misleading illustrative examples;
· The use of misleading names for products;
· Mortgage Intermediaries exaggerating claims in respect of the appointments they hold;
· Advertising interest rates that are not generally available;
· Omission of required ‘ warning notices’ ;
· Incorrect or misleading comparisons with competitor’ s products; and
· Incorrect regulatory disclosure.

Very interesting.
I want to complain about the Sunday Independent and its property section. Each week they highlight some overseas location. There's a picture with a number of headings. Price and size I've no problem with but they then say "capital appreciation" and a figure as if it's guaranteed. This is ludicrous. Where would one complain about this?

Property itself is unregulated so you can't contact the Financial Regulator.

You could try the ASAI or the Press Complaints Commission

Brendan

Cheers...that's what I thought myself. Probably won't do any good but I'll give it a lash!

until recently when a rate of interest was quoted it was per annum. now rates are being quoted for different periods e.g. 2 years whichcan be misleading. i know the EAR Rate is also quoted but usually in much smaller print

KalEl said:

Probably won't do any good

Click to expand...

If it involves the ASAI then it definitely won't do any good based on my experience. At best it'll result in your complaint being upheld via a toothless wrap on the knuckles notification in their bulletin well after (usually months) the event when the relevant advertising campaign has probably ended anyway.

Brendan said:

Property itself is unregulated so you can't contact the Financial Regulator.

You could try the ASAI or the Press Complaints Commission

Brendan

Click to expand...

Why is property unregulated ?
This unregulation would be my chief complaint.

Whos fault is it that an area of the economy where Irish people are throwing money like confetti for years is uregulated ?

Why is the sale of property unregulated?
How can overseas property investment be advertised in the local press with no regulation?
In the regulated investment market there are a myriad of rules/regulations that must be adhered to. Investment quotations in the insurance based market have a limit on the rate of investment return that can be illustrated.
With so much money having been "invested" in property over the past few years- both at home and overseas- why is it still entirely unregulated? Its surely only a matter of time before calls for a Tribunal start to emerge when "investors" find out that many of the promised returns/rental yields are pure fiction. Just look at the so called "rental guarantees".
Maybe now that the Greens are riding "shotgun" we might see Grianna Fail start to regulate their friends.

I liked this letter in today's Irish Times:

The Financial Regulator is concerned at the use of small print for such warnings as "the value of investments may go down as well as up" (The Irish Times, June 14th). Perhaps the regulator could also rule against the aural equivalent of small print: the gabbled ending to many radio ads.
However, surely the wording itself is of greater concern. The standard "warning" is artfully phrased to suggest nothing worse than a few short-term fluctuations. Should it not say "down instead of up"? Or, more bluntly "the value of your investments might fall". After all, there can be no need for a warning that it might rise.