Equity release products can only be recommended to consumers when they are appropriate to circumstances, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has assured the public.

The authority, which regulates the undertakings of financial institutions throughout the UK, states that an essential tenet of its guidance for financial advisers is that they must only recommend products when they fit with the circumstances of the consumer.

A spokesperson for the FSA contended: "An adviser has to establish the circumstances of the person, what their position is and then recommend the suitable product and give them all the key facts in the prescribed format.

"If one is not suitable, then you must not recommend it. It's quite logical that we make that rule," he added.

Adding to its reassurances about taking advice on such products the FSA stated that all rules applying to normal mortgages are also applicable to equity release products, in order to protect the consumer from poor advice.

The FSA made changes to its rules in October last year, to cover the whole of the equity release market in line with alterations to its regulatory remit.