A Bank of Ireland-owned financial advisory company has been fined £165,000 (€253,000) by Britain's financial regulator for a misleading promotion for its investment products.

The regulator ruled that the company, Chase de Vere, did not make clear the risks of stock market-linked high-income bonds that could cause investors to lose capital. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said the products would not have been familiar to the investors targeted.

Chase de Vere sent its promotion out with more than two million copies of Britain's national newspapers and by direct mail to 236,000 people. The FSA stopped the advertisement so that only 259 people bought the products on the strength of the promotion.

The FSA fined British bank Lloyds TSB Group £1.9 million in September for improperly selling high-income bonds to 22,500 customers. The regulator may fine more firms in the new year, a spokesman said.

Chase de Vere offered those who bought the products compensation or cancellation. Out of the 259 buyers, 14 had cancelled, said the FSA. "The FSA has made it clear time and time again that financial promotions must not mislead and that significant risk factors should be given due prominence," FSA's Mr Andrew Procter said in the statement.