The chief City watchdog has taken a bite out of several financial firms as part of a clampdown on dodgy advertisements, ordering changes to be made to more than 70 ads during the second half of last year.
In five cases, the ads were so poor that the Financial Services Authority advised the firms concerned to write to investors offering them the chance to pull out their money at no cost.
The regulator is also considering enforcement action over two daytime television ads that fell far short of the rules. It declined to identify the guilty parties, though it is thought one or more could involve companies specialising in "pension unlocking" where individuals over the age of 50 are encouraged to release pension benefits from an occupational or personal pension ahead of their retirement, perhaps in order to pay debts or top up low incomes.
"We continue to receive a steady flow of complaints about misleading advertising - from consumers, firms and our own supervisors - and we take action immediately to stamp it out," said Anna Bradley, the regulator's consumer director.
She warned investment companies that the FSA would be looking closely at ads promoting stock market-based Isas to ensure the risks were being explained clearly and that firms do not overstep the mark in the way they highlight past performance.
Almost 300 cases of allegedly misleading advertising were handled by the FSA during the second half of 2003, with more than a third of these referred to the regulator by members of the public. It ordered changes to be made to some 73 ads from 63 separate companies.
The ads that attracted the most complaints were for high risk precipice bonds, spread betting, share tipping services and pension unlocking firms.
Where regional ads fell within the FSA's remit - which excludes mortgages and loans - there were no serious problems. But a review of daytime TV identified "a handful" of ads that did not comply fully with the rules.
The regulator said it was significantly increasing the resources it committed to policing financial advertising and was setting up a new department to lead this work.
The FSA wants people who spot misleading ads to write or get in touch by email.
Last week it fined pension unlocking specialist Berkeley Jacobs Financial Services £175,000 for serious failings in the advice it offered clients. Ads on daytime TV featured cartoon characters encouraging viewers over 50 years old to unlock their pension cash.
