FSA urged to retract 'reckless' statement on TLPs

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) should as a matter of urgency retract its references to traded life policies (TLPs) as "toxic", said EEA Fund Management.

In November, the regulator said it plans to ban the sale and promotion of TLPs because they are high risk and generally unsuitable for most UK retail investors. It described them as "high risk, toxic products" in a consultation on proposed guidance on TLP investments. But EEA said the regulator's description was "without merit and reckless". EEA Fund Management marketed the EEA Life Settlements fund, dealings in which were suspended shortly after the FSA's announcement. "The use of this term [toxic] implies that all TLPs are harmful to the investor, whether retail or otherwise,"...