FSA cracks down on tweets
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The FSA is taking a hard line on financial services firms advertising products on Twitter.
Money Marketing’s sister publication Mortgage Strategy reports the regulator has told a number of brokers and distributors to amend or remove tweets on the social networking website. Money Marketing understands the regulator’s concerns extend to other areas of financial services.
In a financial promotions industry update published in June 2010, the FSA said that its financial promotion rules apply to new media sites such as Facebook and Twitter in the same way as adverts made using any other medium.
It said that because Twitter limits the number of characters that can be used, posts on this site may be an insufficient means of providing balanced and sufficient information.
It is in this area that some brokers are understood to be falling foul of the regulator.
The FSA is also coming down hard on unregulated distributors, telling them they need to make it clear in all promotions, including on Twitter, that they are not authorised to give advice.
Rob Jupp, managing director at Brightstar Financial, says he has been contacted by the regulator over a tweet he posted about a mortgage product his firm is offering from Saffron Building Society.
He says: “The FSA was concerned this tweet could have been overstepping the line into offering advice, but it was clearly written in trade lingo and only aimed at brokers, not consumers.
“The FSA conceded my point and I have no criticism of its decision to contact me, but Twitter is clearly a big issue with the regulator at the moment and advisers need to be aware that they could be overstepping the mark when they discuss products on Twitter.”
A spokesman for the FSA says: “The FSA monitors advertising in all media and we contact firms if we see problems. We know that consumers use adverts to help them shop around for mortgages so we insist that any financial promotions must be clear, fair and not misleading. There are a handful of exceptions but, generally speaking, mortgage adverts need a prominent risk warning.”
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Readers' comments (20)
Doug Bennett | 23 Sep 2011 1:15 pm
Tweet 'Mortgage - YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESSED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON YOUR MORTGAGE'
OK what else shall I say in the 51 characters I have left!!!!
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Anonymous | 23 Sep 2011 1:26 pm
A trader at UBS loses £1.2 billion.
Never mind we will stop these buggers using twitter though!!!!
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Peter Turner | 23 Sep 2011 1:31 pm
Twitter is, as the name implies, chit chat. As Doug has shown at 1.15, it can give only an indication of a possible option.
Only an imbecile would consider it to amount to a personal recommendation.
Perhaps the FSA have concluded that the Twitterers ARE imbeciles.
I wonder if it takes one to know one?
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The Blue Bird | 23 Sep 2011 1:43 pm
Everyone shoud know Principle 6 is all about Tweeting Customers Fairly
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Anonymous | 23 Sep 2011 2:09 pm
I didn't realize it was the 1st April
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The red bird | 23 Sep 2011 2:27 pm
Its weird because the collective term for people who tweet is twats and the collective term for the FSA is......i'll let you work that one out
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Anonymous | 23 Sep 2011 2:41 pm
Well done FSA you have spent time and energy and stamped down on Twitter, but whilst you have been doing that you have no doubt missed a multi million pound fraud.
I think everyone in the UK knows your home is at risk if you don't pay the mortgage, treatly customers fairly is one think but treating them as numbskulls is offensive. ps I,m not an advisor.
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Jack | 23 Sep 2011 2:46 pm
Maybe we could tweet the FSA the names of central bankers & 'elite' CEO's that were never brought to justice for their reckless behaviour, which has caused serious damage to millions of people (not just investors). Maybe not, that would involve doing some real work & upsetting the ones that control them.
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Mike | 23 Sep 2011 3:06 pm
You know, it always boils down to the FSA using draconian methods on IFAs, bit like lions singling out a loan animal from the heard and then savaging it to death. I don't understand why media like Panorama or other investigative media haven't done a programme on this and then showing the relationships between the FSA & bankers & politicians and how they are in each others pockets and immune to regulation and how the general public are being fleeced whilst IFAs (their champions & protectors) are being put out of business.
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Anonymous | 23 Sep 2011 3:19 pm
I like the FSA - the stuff they do is a constant reminder to me about why i don't work in the public sector - And they only have four objectives - one of which is this
financial stability - contributing to the protection and enhancement of stability of the UK financial system
So as our system goes into free fall does anyone think they are achieving this today?
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