The Financial Services Authority pressed ahead on Tuesday with its drive to improve the standards of financial advisers and insurance and mortgage brokers by announcing a plan to assess the conduct of more than 11,000 small companies over the next three years.

The review of small businesses comes as the FSA gears up to enforce its Treating Customers Fairly initiative, its key consumer protection standard. Last year, a progress report, sponsored by the FSA, found that just 41 per cent of small companies were meeting TCF deadlines, which raised concerns for regulators.