Quarter of financial firms’ websites are not fair, clear and not misleading

In 130 visits to 77 firms’ websites over the last 12 months, the FSA discovered that a quarter were hard to navigate and failed to highlight key information in breach of financial promotions standards. Examples of bad practice include advantages and drawbacks not given equal emphasis on the same page; headline claims that are not properly substantiated and the evidence is not displayed close to the claim; inaccurate information, the FSA cites wrong interest rates or special offers which are no longer available. Risk details might easily be missed in some cases on the way to an application form and coverage of fees and exclusions may be located deep in the website or held in a distinct area such as FAQs. The FSA favours putting risk information on the first page that a customer sees and close to the product description. It likes the idea that the risk warning remains on the page even when the customer scrolls up and down with repetition of the information during the application process. A failure to use text boxes, with lack of attention to criteria like font, colour and position is another criticism. Firms also need to be aware of the variety of browsers, otherwise the customer may not be able to see the risk information without scrolling down the screen.