Payment Protection Insurance Profiteering - Hot Topics Q & A

Q. I know that this subject may not be part of your world, but am I right in thinking that a major High Street Bank has been fined over £1 million for selling something called PPI? 

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Perhaps the £1 million fine is very affordable!

In researching this, we were quite staggered at the profits the banks make from this product. Apparently PPI sellers over the last decade have made £35 billion, yes billion, profit!! 

PPI stands for Payment Protection Insurance. Basically, if you take out a loan, you can insure against you not being able to repay it due to illness or redundancy etc. Also, if you buy a computer in a shop, you can insure agains a fault developing within 3 years or so by paying an amount along with the cost of the gadget.
    
This type of insurance is viewed as a rip-off by many, and for example was covered by the Daily Mail in a campaign fairly recently. 

A. Yes you are right. A High Street Bank has indeed been fined this amount. 

Banks seem to be involved in all sorts of shenanigans these days. What on earth is this all about?