Mortgage broker gets record £900k fine

One of the UK's largest independent financial adviser groups has been fined a record £900,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

The fine was levied against the mortgage broker Thinc Group for poor record keeping and failing to prove that sub-prime loans it sold were right for the customers it sold them to.

Since commencing its investigation into the sub-prime market, the FSA has referred five companies for enforcement, but the £900,000 fine is the highest it has ever handed out.

Margaret Cole, director of enforcement at the FSA, said: "The level of fine shows that we are determined to impose higher fines for serious failings in the retail market and that poor record keeping is a serious failing even where, as in this case, the FSA has not determined that the firm mis-sold sub prime mortgages and there have been few complaints."

The FSA said that Thinc had failed to demonstrate why, given the credit histories of certain customers, they had been allowed to take out the mortgages they were sold.