There’s an interesting article I really agree with at The Independent, calling for the recent consumer backlash against banks to spread to other companies within the financial services industry:
The thrust of this consumer power into the financial services industry has so far been limited to bank accounts – the basics of running our daily finances. But I think we’ll see this mood affect more complicated issues such as pensions, critical illness cover and income protection. Helped by regulators and watchdogs, consumers will slowly benefit from greater transparency on product fees, costs and returns – and get a greater understanding of what they’re actually buying into. It’s worked for bank accounts and it can work for every other part of the financial services industry.
I think it’s great that consumers are generally becoming more and more savvy about financial products, as we’ve been ripped off by products we don’t understand for too long.