Online banking company Egg have been fined £721,000 for ‘serious failings' in sales of payment protection insurance (PPI) to its credit card customers.

The financial services authority (FSA) revealed that it found failings in around 40% of telephone sales to its customers from January 2005 to December 2007.

The FSA found that Egg staff were instructed to over-emphasise the positive features of PPI, and in some cases it was applied to customer's cards without their consent.