Financial Regulation – it’s up there with chocolate teapots, inflatable dartboards and Anne Frank’s drumkit as the most useless of things ever to have graced the planet. For years now, millions of banking customers have been right royally ripped off due to the serious lack of effective regulation. The Financial Services Authority (FSA), which is funded by the banks, has for too long been a toothless Guppy masquerading as a hungry Piranha.

The major failing of the FSA has been in the area of payment protection insurance, a mis-selling problem that was first pointed out way back at the beginning of the 90′s by consumer campaign group Which?. For years now, lenders have not only mis sold PPI but also grossly overpriced the policies and earned massive commissions. Meanwhile customers falling on hard times found that their policy was worthless, despite having paid every month for it, and couldn’t make the repayments. It seems the FSA did very little to stop this from happening and only now, after it’s all come out, are they threatening, fining and sanctioning – a little late don’t you think? Lets hope the new Government can give us financial regulation that lives up to it’s name and does exactly what it says on the tin. Good old Ronseal.

Hi, just a quickun today, if you’re interested in claiming PPI or just the general topic, this article is well worth a read. Combined with the comments, it makes a good arguement for and against the banks: have a read…