Oliver Assersohn examines the significance of the FSA's message
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At the beginning of the year the Financial Services Authority (FSA) found that Pacific Continental Securities UK Limited (PCS) had failed to conduct its business with integrity, in breach of principle 1 of the FSA's Principles of Business. One of the findings was that PCS had permitted advisers to continue to engage in inappropriate selling practices despite awareness of those failings.
“The bible”
The selling practices were described in a manual known as “the bible” which was provided by PCS to advisers and which contained suggested ways of overcoming customers' objections.
For example, if a customer wanted to talk to his wife the recommended approach was to say: “If you want me to call you back so you can ask your wife if you can buy the stock, I'll ring mine and see if I can sell it to you, in all seriousness…”
If the customer was unsure about whether to proceed with the trade a suggested way to handle the situation was to say: “If
