FSA publishes first FSAVC Review Bulletin

Todays bulletin follows on from the FSAs publication in May of the procedures and standards to be used by firms reviewing their sales of Free Standing Additional Voluntary Contributions (FSAVCs).

The first bulletin gives explanatory guidance on:

• the treatment of policy increments,
• the use of Investor Occupation Forms,
• the retention of correspondence records,
• treatment of windfalls and
• treatment of priority cases.

The FSAVC Review is a focused exercise, similar to that used for Phase Two of the Pensions Review, covering around 8% of FSAVC sales. The categories covered by the review are matched AVC schemes, where the investor could have benefited from extra employer contributions, and other subsidised AVC schemes where the employer could have enhanced contributions.

This bulletin refers to the Review Model Guidance published by the FSA in May 2000, and the Review Model Guidance Update, published in August 2000. It is available on the internet at http://www.fsa.gov.uk

Notes for editors

1. The FSA regulates the financial services industry and has four objectives under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000: maintaining market confidence; promoting public understanding of the financial system; the protection of consumers; and fighting financial crime.

2. The FSA aims to maintain efficient, orderly and clean financial markets and help retail consumers achieve a fair deal

Appended information

This Bulletin is available from the publications section of our web site. The direct URL is http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/fsavc-review/fsavc_bulletin1.pdf.