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Check your life insurance advisor's credentials

Date: Mon, 08 May 2006

Consumers are being urged to make sure any advice received from their independent financial advisors is really independent.

A growing number of people are seeking advice on the purchase of financial products such as life insurance and critical illness cover.

However, the Observer reports that not all brokers are correctly following Financial Services Authority (FSA) guidelines on offering fee-only services and representing the whole of the market.

In some cases, financial service providers are not offering consumers access to a large number of products but are still maintaining they are independent because they use so-called in-direct broker "networks".

Robin Gordon-Walker, a spokesman for the FSA, cryptically explained: "You can offer the whole of the market, but not be independent. You can also be independent while not covering the whole of the market."

Any consumers planning to invest in a financial product such as life insurance are being advised to make sure they purchase a policy that meets their needs and represents good value for money in the long-term.


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Endsleigh Insurance Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. This can be checked on the FSA Register by visiting its web site at www.fsa.gov.uk/register.
Endsleigh Insurance Services Limited. Company No: 856706 registered in England at Shurdington Road, Cheltenham Spa, Gloucestershire GL51 4UE.