AXA fined £1.8m for bad advice on Isas A total of £440m was invested across the products, meaning the average customer had around £17,000 of savings with AXA in these investments. The FCA said customer losses due to AXA's failings may be low due to movements in the stock market since the advice was given. But the regulator added any customer who lost money would be fully compensated. Tracey McDermott, the FCA's director of enforcement and financial crime, said the regulator has acted pre-emptively to ensure customers are provided with an opportunity to avoid potential losses during future stock market downturns. AXA fell short of its responsibilities to its customers, many of whom were elderly, retired and financially inexperienced. Its failures resulted in an unacceptable risk of AXA selling products which were unsuitable for its customers. AXA's failures were avoidable, coming despite repeated warnings from the FCA's predecessor to the industry about investment advice. The FCA will continue to take tough action against firms who fail to comply with their responsibilities to ensure that consumers get a fair deal. A spokesperson for AXA said the firm accepts the FCA's findings. "We take regulatory compliance very seriously and regret that the customer advice provided by the bancassurance division between September 2010 and April 2012 did not meet the high standards expected by the FCA," said the spokesperson. As the FCA has noted, customer detriment may currently be low as was the number of complaints AXA has received. We will be writing to our affected retail banking customers and will review the advice provided to them during that period should they wish us to do so. The fine is part of a drive by the FCA to stamp out poor practice. Over the past couple of years a number of high street banks and building societies have been caught misleading customers with poor advice about investment products. Earlier this year the regulator took action against Santander after a mystery shopping exercise revealed that many bank customers were given poor advice on Isas, pensions and investment plans. Barclays was slapped with a £7.7m fine for widespread investment advice failings on the sale of two Aviva funds in 2011. Earlier this year regulations were overhauled in an attempt to clean up the industry. The FCA has banned financial advisers from taking commission when selling investment products in an attempt to remove bias and improve the advice being given to savers.