Banks and building societies are not providing consumers with good advice, according to a new report that may concern those with Financial Services Authority authorisation (FSA authorisation).
Which? researchers carried out an undercover investigation and found just four of 37 branches of banks and building societies visited gave good advice about investing a lump sum.
A total of 33 did not pass the Which? tests, often down to their failure to recommend appropriate products and properly explain the risks involved, or they were found not to get the basics of good advice right.
"We were very disappointed to see that once again there had been no signs of improvement, and that the quality of advice on the high street today is dangerously poor," commented James Daley, money editor at Which?.
The FSA recently fined Charles Palmer, director of Gloucestershire based Financial Ltd, £49,000 for placing customers at risk of receiving poor pension switching advice.