Financial marketers call for Government savings drive

Financial services marketers are calling on the Government and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to jointly create advertising to promote savings products.

In a meeting between the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers’ (ISBA) financial services group and the FSA, marketers said the Government had an important role in making savings products, such as ISAs, accessible and understandable through advertising.

The closed-door meeting, which took place two weeks ago, involving undisclosed marketers, was set up to discuss the FSA’s plans to restrict the use of past-performance statistics in financial services advertising.

ISBA members told FSA representatives that the move could lead to a reduction in financial services advertising, as it is a key selling point in campaigns.

It argued that responsible use of past-performance statistics already takes place and added that, instead of restricting financial services advertising, the Government should support it through its own advertising.

ISBA director of public affairs Ian Twinn says: “The general feeling of members is that the advertising of financial services products is complicated, but there isn’t any general promotion of savings. We need to have the Government thinking about its role.”

The FSA is proposing to reduce the prominence given to past-performance claims in advertising and create standardised five-year formats for displaying statistics.