According to accountancy firm Grant Thornton around 76 per cent of advertisements and product promotions it examined failed to meet the standards set by Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Discrepancies were found in interest rates being advertised which were not available, scare tactics were used, making tall claims that were not true and extreme use of small print.

Overall, the research found significant faults in 84 per cent of advertisements of investment products, 81 per cent in promotions of mortgages, personal loansetc. and 61 per cent of insurance promotions.

As per the guidelines of FSA all promotional adverts should be understandable, just and not deceptive, and risk warnings should be outlined.

According to Ian Gorham, a partner at Grant Thornton's financial markets group: "The fact that more than 75 per cent of all UK financial advertisements that we inspected did not meet the standards is highly disappointing, and even more so given some of the serious examples we found.

An FSA spokesman said "We devote many resources to communicate our requirements to firms, and acting on bad practice when we see it."A customer's initial idea of a product can influence their subsequent decision-making to a considerable degree so it is important that companies produce promotions that help customers make the right selection of the product.