Midlands car dealer censured by Financial Services Authority over compliance failings
A car dealership has been subjected to a public censure by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) after failing to clamp down on its staff’s dodgy sales techniques.
Cathedral Motor Company, a franchise with branches across the Midlands trading as Arbury, was punished for failures relating to its sale of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI).
The FSA found that Cathedral failed to organise and control its regulated business responsibly and effectively. In particular, there was little monitoring of staff, which meant it could not determine whether its sales staff paid due regard to the needs of customers.
Cathedral did not sufficiently apportion compliance responsibilities among its senior management and did not ensure appropriate training of its staff, according to the FSA. The dealer also failed to provide customers with certain key documents before the conclusion of sales, creating a “risk of consumer detriment”.
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FSA director for enforcement Margaret Cole said: “The sale of PPI is a priority for us due to the high potential risk for consumers in the way this product is sold.
“Cathedral’s failings, particularly in relation to the monitoring of sales staff, created a risk of consumer detriment. We have taken a number of enforcement actions relating to PPI recently and more cases are in the pipeline.”
