A pleasing result for bank scam victims

A staggering 23 million useless insurance policies were flogged by the banks to unwitting customers, says Merryn Somerset Webb. Now, here's the good news.

What's the best way to restore consumer trust in Britain's financial services? I'm not entirely sure there is one at this point. But according to the new chairman of the consumer panel at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Sue Lewis, it comes down to her lot sticking up for "ordinary" customers rather more than perhaps the regulators have in the past. This means looking not just at the very big issues, but also at the things "that irritate people on a day-to-day basis" things such as teaser rates that end without obvious notice, and the over-zealous rejection of insurance claims.

She might be right. But even if she is not only right but acts on her views, it is going to be an uphill battle, given the endless stream of semi-scandals coming out of the industry. Consider, says The Guardian, the "stats that tell the sordid tale".

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.