Mini Bonds Promotions - FCA & Advertising Standards Regulation Farce

It's become clear that warnings were provided to the FCA about LCF as far back as 2015 by an Independent Financial Adviser. Other warnings were given from 2017 onwards where the FCA and Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) were playing a game of ping pong bouncing complaints between each other rather than actually acting. Dealing with these at the time might have prevented near 12,000 investors getting burnt to the tune of £236 million.

This sequence of emails starts with the reporting to the ASA of the website Top-ISA-Rates.co.uk that was promoting LCF bonds.

Report 1 Sent to Advertising Standards - Reply 1 Below

Dear Mr XXXX,

Thank you for contacting the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) with your complaint about Top ISA Rates. 

Our remit

The material you complained about is not covered by the Advertising Rules because aspects of non-broadcast advertising for most financial ads are subject to statutory control by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). For that reason, we have not assessed the information provided and will not be taking your complaint further.

What Happens Next?

We have passed your complaint to the FCA; however, please note that they do not report their findings or contact consumers directly, but please rest assured that they will take any necessary action. However, please find attached a copy of their automated response with further information.  

Although we can’t help you directly on this occasion, thank you for taking the time to contact us. 

Yours sincerely,

ASA

Complaints shown as logged and informally resolved by Advertising Standards on their website

Reply 2 from ASA - Now Bounced back from FCA as it relates to a comparison site not product. 

This is a key issue with the lack of ownership of the sale & promotion of mini bonds. No-one seems to want to take responsibility for them.

Dear Mr XXX,

Following on from my email sent on 13 June 2018 regarding your complaint about Top ISA Rates, I am writing to inform you that the case was referred back to the ASA for further consideration. 

The matter was referred back to us as it concerns a comparison website rather than an individual product; therefore is not within the remit of the FCA to regulate.  

We have now passed this case over to our Investigations team for further consideration. A member of the team will be in touch with you in due course.

Many thanks,
XXX
Complaints Executive
Advertising Standards Authority


Reply 3 from ASA
Dear Mr XXX
 
Your complaint - RPDigitalServices Ltd (Top ISA Rates)

I’m writing to let you know that your complaint has been passed to me for further investigation.

Over the next two weeks I will be making an initial assessment of your complaint, so if you have any further supporting documents or information then please send this to me now.

Otherwise, it would be helpful if you do not contact me until I have been in touch to update you further.  This is to allow time for me to review the information that you have provided and to determine the next steps. Once I have done this I will be in touch to provide more information about the process we will follow when dealing with your complaint.

Kind regards

XXX
Investigations Executive

Reply 4 from ASA

Dear Mr XXX
Your complaint - RPDigitalServices Ltd trading as Top ISA Rates
Thank you for your patience while we carried out an initial assessment of your complaint.
We have decided that further investigation is needed. We have written to Top ISA Rates
and asked for their response to the points of complaint that we are looking into, which are
set out in the attached document. We have summarised your complaint in a way that
reflects the advertising rules that we apply.
Next steps
There are two ways in which an investigation can be conducted:
? In many cases, an advertiser will agree to make changes to their advertising, which
means we can resolve the issue quickly.
? In some cases, if the company wants to defend their advertising or if we decide it
would be more appropriate to do so, we will refer the case to the ASA Council for
their decision.
For more detailed information on our complaints procedure and the actions we can take,
please see the ‘What happens next?’ section of this leaflet.

We will contact you again once we have received a response from Top ISA Rates and decided how best to proceed. However, please feel free to contact us at any time to check on the status of your complaint.
Kind regards


Reply 5 from ASA
Dear Mr XXX
Further to my letter of 12 July, we have received a response from RPDigitalServices Ltd trading as Top ISA Rates.  They have agreed to amend their ads to state prominently that some of the ISAs were not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).  We consider that this will resolve the complaint without referring the matter to the ASA Council, and will consequently be closing our file.

In a formal investigation, if the ASA Council decides that an ad is in breach of the Code, the advertisers are told to withdraw or amend it.  Because Top ISA Rates has already assured us that the advertising you complained about will be amended, we consider there is little to be gained from continuing with a formal investigation, which would achieve that same outcome.

Although we will not publish full details of your complaint on our website, www.asa.org.uk, basic information including the advertisers' name and where the ad appeared will appear on Wednesday 22 August.

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to raise the matter with us.  If you would like more information about what we do and the ads we have found in breach of the Code, please have a look on our website.

Yours sincerely

XXX
Investigations Executive

ASA ruling on London Capital Finance Surge/RPDigital/ Top ISA Rates