PPI'll Be back

What has the financial sector regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and Arnold Schwarzenegger got in common?

 

Well, you would be forgiven for thinking that this was the start of a reasonable joke (well, reasonable by my standards)……but actually Arnold Schwarzenegger has been employed to front a £42.2 million FCA advertising campaign to inform those that haven’t made a claim for being mis-sold PPI that the deadline is 29 August 2019.

 

Before we all throw our toys out of the pram about the £42.2 million cost to taxpayers for the advertising campaign…..the regulator is making 18 banks pay for it.

 

The majority of the £42.2 million spend is going on adverts featuring a robotic head of the Terminator star, with £24 million used to buy advertising space in cinemas, billboards and on TV. £4.9 million has gone towards ‘talent fees’ and production costs, with another £3 million going to the creative agency (M&C Saatchi – the Conservative party’s longstanding ad agency!!!!!) which designed the campaign.

 

My initial reaction to the £42.2 million figure was……bloody hell, that’s a lot of cash to spend on something that pretty much everyone has heard of. Anybody who doesn't know that they can claim for mis-sold PPI over the last 6 years must have been living in a cave, on the moon or in a North Korean prison.

 

My second reaction was one of frustration……we need the banks as they are the key to economic growth more often than Government policy. The more we keep kicking them in the shins, the more difficult it will be for them to initiate what the Government won’t (or can’t).

 

My third reaction was pretty simple really. Might it have been more effective if the FCA had required the banks to write to those who had been required to pay for PPI. Pretty sure there would have been change from the £42.2 million after the cost of the letters, envelopes and stamps Just a thought.

 

My fourth reaction was one of confusion…… I'm not sure what has been the bigger scam – the actual PPI policies themselves or the PPI compensation recovery?

 

My fifth reaction (yes, I had quite a few reactions!) was that it was the best and most realistic work of Arnie's career.

 

The advert can be seen by clicking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfwk0bAAfPk

 

Hasta la vista PPI