Lamb welcomes ban of David M Aaron Ltd for mis-selling precipice bonds

5.00.25pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 1st Sep 2004

Norman Lamb MP today welcomed the announcement by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) that David M Aaron Ltd, a family-run firm of Independent Financial Advisors, has been banned from trading due to systemic mis-selling of precipice bonds.

"I am pleased that the FSA has finally moved against David M Aaron Ltd," Mr Lamb said earlier today. "I understand the company is no longer trading and that the directors and senior personnel will find it difficult to get licences in the future."

Mr Lamb also emphasized his ongoing concerns about the behaviour of unscrupulous IFAs and the impact of misleading information about risk. "Mis-selling and the refusal to treat customers fairly must be stamped out," he said. "While this is a robust move by the FSA, I want to see rigorous and efficient regulation to ensure customers are not exploited in similar situations in the future."

Norman Lamb has criticised the FSA regularly in the past for their failure to stop the precipice bond scandal developing and he remains critical of their track record. "I welcome this move by the FSA, and the clear signal this gives to the public about the commitment to stamping out mis-selling," he commented.

"However I am still critical of the FSA for failing to provide adequate warnings," Mr Lamb added. "The warnings that were provided were ineffective and insufficient. We must continue to put pressure on the regulator to ensure this type of scandal does not happen again."