Consumer groups given power to force product probes

Consumer groups will have the power to insist regulators investigate complaints of mass mis-selling of financial products when the Financial Conduct Authority takes over in 2013, Mark Hoban, financial secretary, will announce today.

The FCA, which will assume the Financial Services Authority's consumer protection role, would be obliged to look into the 'super complaint' and respond within a set period. According to the Financial Times, Hoban will tell the Which? consumer group conference later: "We've proposed a range of new powers for the regulator so that they can give better protection to consumers, including the power to ban toxic products. "But we want to go further by giving front-line consumer groups like Which? the power to hold the regulator to account where there has been widespread mis-selling of finan...