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FCA writes to 152 firms over high-risk investments

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28/08/2018

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has revealed that it has written to 152 investment firms. This is in regards to high-risk schemes on offer by the firms.

This was shared in the FCA’s annual report. The report also showed that these schemes are often unsuitable for certain clients. As a result, inexperienced clients may be able to raise a mis-selling complaint for any losses.

High-risk investments

The firms contacted by the FCA have not been revealed. However, we have issued a number of mis-selling cases in 2018.

Many of these relate to people being advised to invest in self-invested personal pensions (Sipp) which weren’t suitable for them.

Our clients placed their savings in to high-risk investments following poor (or deliberately misleading) advice. As a result, their savings were put at risk. Here are just a few firms we have launched cases against.

Liberty Sipp

Earlier this year, we launched the biggest legal case ever against Liberty Sipp. The Sipp provider accepted referrals from unregulated introducers, including a company called Avacade, who cold called people offering a free pension review and advised them to invest in schemes such as Ethical Forestry and Global Plantations.

The Sipp firm accepted the investments despite the fact it has a duty to treat customers fairly, and should have been cautious about accepting the business from Avacade, who sold the high-risk investments without making clients fully aware of the level of risk.

As a result of the lost investments, some of these investment schemes are now under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. We have also been approached by the FCA regarding these cases.

We estimate that up to 10% of Liberty Sipp’s customers were mis-sold an investment.

Guinness Mahon

We have also issued a number of cases against Sipp provider Guinness Mahon. The claims are also regarding investments into schemes including Ethical Forestry.

We have so far secured two preliminary decisions against Guinness Mahon from the FOS on behalf of our clients. This also covers unregulated introducer Avacade.

The FOS ruled that Guinness Mahon should have done due diligence on the introducer. As a result, Guinness Mahon has been told to compensate our clients.

 

If you invested in Sipp with Guinness Mahon or Liberty Sipp, get in touch. Our team of experts can advise you on the next steps to take.