The FSA has set up a hotline for the public and firms to report misleading advertising for financial products.
The hotline is part of the FSAs efforts to regulate financial advertising, including setting up a department to monitor the sector, it said.
The FSA said it had received 580 advertising-related cases relating to 359 firms in the past year.
FSA director of retail themes Anna Bradley, said: “The Hotline will make it much easier for consumers and firms to report on adverts they believe flout the rules and will enable us to act quickly and if necessary remove the offending material before someone loses out.
“We hope that firms will make use of the new hotline, as well as consumers. Consumers can pay a heavy price when they buy a financial product as a result of a misleading advert.
“But the industry also pays a heavy price when their reputation is damaged because one firm makes an inflated claim to gain advantage over their competitors.”
The FSA said it was also setting up a specialist team which would undertake visits to firms to check whether their systems and controls around financial promotions were adequate.
