FCP was a firm with authority to carry on regulated business in the UK as a result of being regulated by the authorities in Cyprus.
However, the firm was only authorised to provide advice on general insurance products. Neither it, nor its representatives (5G Wealth Management) were authorised to provide advice on pensions or investments.
The Financial Ombudsman Services (FOS) has recently ordered a SIPP provider to pay compensation in relation to a case where the client took out a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) with SVS which was administered by Gaudi Regulated Services Ltd (Gaudi).
FCP Insurance Consultants (FCP) was the introducer to the business.
Pension Transfer to SIPP
FCP advised a client to take out a SIPP with Gaudi, transfer his existing pension arrangements to it and invest in his new SIPP via SVS. The application submitted included a request to transfer the client’s existing SIPP to a SVS SIPP.
At the time, SVS Securities was a wealth management and stockbroking firm, offering a range of services to its clients, including advisory stockbroking, online share dealing, foreign exchange trading and discretionary fund management services.
SVS Securities went into special administration and the administrators arranged the transfers of the majority of the company’s clients to financial advice and investment services company, ITI Capital.
The client, in this case, lost a substantial amount of his pension provisions.
Gaudi stopped accepting business from FCP in June 2012 when it realised FCP was not authorised to provide investment advice in the UK. This is reasonable and appropriate as there was a considerable risk of consumer detriment, if consumers were advised by intermediaries who are not authorised to give that advice.
The Ombudsman explained that whilst Gaudi did carry out some checks on the adviser, they were not sufficient and ordered the firm to pay the client compensation for his losses.
Review Your Transactions
If you had dealings with any of those firms you should review all the transactions which were made and get in touch with us if you have any concerns about the advice you received or the way your investments are performing.
You may have suffered losses, even if your annual statements show that your money is safe.
Clients usually contact us when they are close to retirement and are suddenly being told that they can’t access their pension funds – as the investments can’t be sold or have gone into liquidation.
Your annual pension forecast will show growth, when the provider should state that the forecast is not based on fund performance.
Call Us Now For A No-Obligation Chat
We offer a free assessment of your situation to find out if you may be owed money redress. We will inform you of other options available to you. Don’t delay because there are time limits to claim your compensation. The best time to act is now!
Contact us for an informal discussion to explore your options. You’ll also get a better understanding of how we work before deciding on your best course of action.
Pension Claims Experts
ACL Consultancy Ltd have been in operation as a claims management company (CMC) for 10 years and have offered the lowest flat fee service in the industry since 2017. We welcome the new Financial Conduct Authority regulation to put a cap on CMC fees which came into effect this month.
We are able to work for a reasonable fee because we don’t buy your data from the companies involved in your claim. We pass these cost savings on to you. Our success is your gain.
Our team possess a deep knowledge of pension and investment compensation, including overseas property investment, and welcome your call to find what solutions are available to you. So, you’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain by calling us today.