Financial services - Consumers’ needs must come first

WE have all heard of friends, neighbours or relatives who have lost substantial sums because of the stock markets’ collapse. Anyone involved in a private-sector pension scheme has had to revise their expectations downwards to reflect the failure of our financial system and our financiers.

The fall in bank shares, once thought conservative, bullet-proof investments, has hit many individuals badly. Especially badly hit are those who invested their life’s savings and planned to rely on income generated by these shares in their retirement.

And it gets worse.