It [FSA] must take effective action now

Sheila McKechnie, Consumers' Association

Only 17% of people believe the City watchdog is doing enough to tackle their problems, and 87% are unaware of its fact sheet to help people complain, research by the Consumers' Association said.

The association believes that 5 million people could be missing out on financial compensation - and wants the regulator to carry out a "targeted" review of mis-selling.

The regulator dismissed the report, saying it was taking the right approach to the issue.

Consumer campaign

The CA recently launched an "endowment action" campaign, urging consumers to "get even" with the companies that sold them the endowment.

Endowments were sold in abundance during the 1980s alongside mortgages - often as a good way to clear a mortgage debt.

But following massive stock market falls in recent years, many endowment policies are no longer on track to meet this repayment.

The FSA has repeatedly ruled out a full-scale review.

Instead it has ordered companies to send out colour-coded projection letters informing customers of whether their policy is on track.

It is considering imposing fines on a number of companies over mis-selling.

Call for tables

According to the FSA, a third of the 100,000 people who have so far lodged complaints against firms have been successful.

On average they have received �3,000 compensation.

The Consumers' Association wants this process to be much more transparent, and would like the FSA to publish complaints league tables and how much compensation they have paid out.

Sheila McKechnie, director of the Consumers' Association, said: "While the FSA makes assurances to the media that it has done enough to help consumers, our survey suggest that the vast majority of the 8 million people with endowments disagree."

"It must take effective action now to enable victims of mis-selling to get more information and claim compensation", she added.