Watchdog bans insurance broker

An insurance broker was banned for using clients' cash to pay himself bonuses and buy a luxury car.

David Marriott was chief executive of two insurance intermediaries, Target Underwriting and Professional Insurance Select. But he failed to properly segregate and protect money his customers paid for insurance premiums.

He used the cash to cover the running of both firms, which were failing, as well as to give himself and his staff pay rises, cars and bonuses. He is thought to have misused £570,841 of customers' money. The Financial Services Authority imposed a lifetime ban on Marriott, of Market Harborough, Leicestershire.