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On 14 February 2012, the Central Bank expressed its concerns about the advertising of regulated financial services and products, and announced that it is actively reviewing the advertising of financial products and services by regulated firms.
This announcement comes in light of the requirements of the Consumer Protection Code 2012 (the "CPC"), which came into effect on 1 January 2012. The Central Bank has stated that it is identifying advertising practices which are not fully compliant with the requirements of the CPC, while indicating that it has already required some firms to amend or withdraw advertisements about which it had concerns.
To date, the Central Bank has highlighted the following concerns in relation to advertisements:
- shortfalls in fairness, clarity, accuracy and the potential to mislead in terms of content and presentation;
- key information in relation to the product is not sufficiently prominent;
- the qualifying criteria are not included with the minimum price or potential maximum saving, in the main body of the advertisement.
In this regard, the Central Bank has stated that key information and eligibility criteria should be stated with the minimum price or potential maximum saving in the main body of the advertisement, and that these must be prominent within the advert. It also has emphasised that firms must be aware of the sizing of proposed advertisements and consider how they may appear in their final formats.
Generally, the Director of Consumer Protection, Bernard Sheridan, has stated that the Central Bank's objective in relation to advertising is that "consumers should receive balanced information on advertised financial products and services". He has also stated that the Central Bank expects firms to bear this objective in mind when designing their advertisements and when deciding on the information to be contained therein.
Finally, the Central Bank referred to its recent correspondence with firms, in which it reminded them of their compliance obligations and the need to make all necessary amendments to ensure compliance with the requirements of the CPC. In particular, the Central Bank noted that this correspondence drew the firms' attention to the provisions 2.4, 9.2, 9.6 and 9.7 of the CPC.
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