Winterthur Life
Company: Winterthur Life
Fine Amount: £500k plus £57k costs
Date: 25th September 2001
Winterthur Life UK Ltd received a fine of £500,000 after they were found by the FSA to be guilty of mis-selling endowment policies between March 1998 and December 1999.
The main failures of the company centred on a computerised system used by Winterthur’s advisers, which allowed endowment policies to be recommended to customers when inappropriate. The company also failed to properly monitor the system, and other internal processes.
Other transgressions included unclear documentation given to customers, and a failure to adequately monitor the activities of their staff.
It is thought up to 10,000 customers may have been affected, and the company was to review policies sold in that period, to clarify the extent of the mis-selling.
Winterthur set aside approximately £10m to cover compensation costs, which will be paid where appropriate to its customers, even if they had since surrendered their policy.