Consumer Wealth, a firm offering advice on pension investments, has been forced into liquidation.
Consumer Wealth
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) received 13 complaints against the firm. The accusations of mis-selling were regarding self-invested personal pensions (Sipps).
So far, the FOS has upheld one complaint against the firm regarding Greyfriars Asset Management (GAM).
Greyfriars Asset Management
One client of Consumer Wealth, known as Mr F, was advised to transfer his two pension plans into funds offered by GAM. One was an equity fund and the other was a GAM Portfolio Six Sipp. The total transfer was valued at £58,000.
Mr F transferred his pension after he was advised that his pension pot would not be at risk and was guaranteed high returns by Consumer Wealth and GAF.
However, this was not the case and the FOS found many faults with Portfolio Six and the Sipp separated Mr F’s money between a number of notoriously unsafe investments.
Investments included hotel rooms, overseas properties and an energy recovery facility. These are commonly mis-sold investment types, and many of our own clients have fallen victim to them, losing life savings as a result.
Liquidation
As a result of the potential payouts, the firm has gone into liquidation.
Consumer Wealth has appointed RSM Restructurers as its administrators, however we believe the firm may ‘phoenix’, meaning it will leave the damaged Consumer Wealth name behind and begin operating under a new name.
Directors Omar Hussein and Shazad Shakat received no restrictions on acting as a director of a company. This may be due to Consumer Wealth never claiming to be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Due Diligence
Before entering into discussions about your personal finances, ensure that the advisor is regulated. The FCA has a list of those authorised to offer financial advice and make pension transfers.
Make sure you do your research into a potential adviser by checking their authorised status as well as looking online for any positive or negative reviews. For peace of mind, you should look into the firm and advisor.
Could you have been mis-sold a Sipp by Consumer Wealth or Greyfriars Asset Management? Get in touch and our team of experts can offer support and advice.