AWD Chase De Vere Wealth Management has been fined £1.12 million by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for failings that led to pensions mis-selling.

Between February 2006 and October 2007 800 people may have been poorly advised on over 1,200 sales made by Chase De Vere.

This is the largest fine for pensions mis-selling since Lloyds TSB was fined £1.9 million for pensions malpractice in 2003.

It is however not the largest fine issued by the FSA this year. Alliance & Leicester were fined £7 million in October for payment protection insurance mis-selling.

The FSA said the firm mis-sold pension transfers and pension annuities by recommending unsuitable products to customers who were already covered.

Chase De Vere has responded to the fine by restructuring senior management, overhauling its compliance checks, changed its reward policies for sales managers and also fired sales managers found to have mis-sold the pensions.