Britain's Financial Services Authority has hit Barclays with a record £7.7 million fine for mis-selling two income investment products to more than 12,000 clients who lost money during the financial crisis.

The UK financial watchdog said Barclays had failed to ensure the Aviva Global Balanced Income Fund and Global Cautious Income Fund were suitable for its customers - many of which were close to retirement - and did not fully understand the risks associated with investing in the funds.

"The FSA requires firms to have robust procedures in place to ensure any advice given to customers is suitable," Margaret Cole, the FSA's managing director of enforcement and financial crime, said in a statement.

"On this occasion however, Barclays failed to do this and thousands of investors, many of whom were seeking to invest their retirement savings, have suffered," she said.

Barclays has apologised to customers and said it would provide appropriate compensation to those affected.

Paul McNamara, managing director of insurance and investments, at Barclays said: "We know that on this occasion we let our customers down and did not do all we could have done to meet the high standards that our customers expect from us and for this we are sorry."

Reuters