HSBC has been fined a record £10.5m and must pay £29.3m in compensation to thousands of elderly and disabled UK customers who were mis-sold complex financial products designed to pay for long-term care.
In what the UK Financial Services Authority described as “particularly serious” and “systemic” violations, HSBC’s subsidiary NHFA advised nearly 2,500 customers to put £285m in investment bonds between 2005 and 2010 to fund long-term care.
A subsequent review found that 87 per cent of the sales were unsuitable, the FSA said. Many of the customers – average age 83 – were too old and ill to benefit from the products, which are typically recommended for people with a five-year investment horizon.