The financial services industry needs to do more to ensure that products are easily understood by customers, the managing director of Age UK Enterprises has said.
The call comes following a survey carried out by OnePoll Research for Age UK Enterprises of 2000 people, of whom 1,250 were 55+ found that 85% of UK consumers found it a struggle to understand many of the financial services products they already have.
Age UK Enterprises is the trading part of the charity Age UK which offers funeral plans, annuities and general insurance products among its range.
Gordon Morris, managing director of Age UK Enterprises, said:"As 2014 comes to a close, I would like to invite the Financial Services industry to make a New Year's resolution.
"Research from Age UK Enterprises shows that over four in every five UK consumers find the Financial Services industry so complex that they struggle to understand the products they either already have or those on offer to them. It also shows that people aged 55 and over have least trust in this industry.
He continued: "So in 2015 the Financial Services industry must make a change to do more to meet their customers' needs - starting with ensuring that they can easily understand what products they are buying.
"It is also extremely important to understand that customers' needs and requirements change as they age, and that Financial Services providers have to be able to respond.
"It is vital to ensure products are the right fit for consumers, not just focusing on price, but also product features and benefits. Unless and until this happens the Financial Services industry will struggle to rebuild the trust it has lost among the public in recent years."
