As part of the insurance induxtry, endowment companies are ultimately answerable to the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the official regulator.

When there’s evidence of mis-selling, inadequate handling of endowment complaints, or other misconduct, the FSA will launch an investigation.

If the investigation shows that the company has broken the guidelines, the FSA have the power to impose a fine and require a review of cases affected, and some of the fines handed down have been fairly substantial.

The menu on the right gives details of some of the most noteworthy fines to have been imposed in recent years.