The British Steel Pension Scheme review has attracted one of its biggest fines. The FCA has fined Active Wealth’s Darren Reynolds £2.2m over a host of pension transfers and banned him from working in financial services as Citywire reports.
Reynolds had advised on 670 pension transfers, including 150 British Steel Pension Scheme transfers, where he placed customers into investments which the FCA says were unsuitable.
By June 2023, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) had paid compensation of over £19.8 million to 511 of Active Wealth’s former customers. At least 270 customers suffered losses over the FSCS’s compensation cap of £50,000. Were it not for this cap then the compensation amount would be over £42.3 million, as Financial Reporter notes.
The story certainly demonstrates how long it takes for even very high profile cases to wind their way through the regulatory system in this case around six years, although Reynolds is appealing to the Upper Tribunal so there is at least one more chapter to go.
The invasion of Ukraine has prompted some Paradigm Norton clients to rethink their stance on weapons stocks, the firm says.
An influential group of sustainable finance institutions have urged the prime minister Rishi Sunak to rethink his net zero roll back, warning that it will hit UK investment and erode the country’s position as a global leader on climate.
The City firms involved include Aviva, Jupiter, Ninety One, Greenbank and the Church of England Pensions Board as Money Marketing reports.
The following story is perhaps worth a little debate and discussion - Financial Conduct Authority CEO Nikhil Rathi has said not enough people have access to advice because of too much "caution" on the part of firms, as FTAdviser reports.
He said: “At present, not enough customers are getting good and affordable financial advice due to caution on the part of firms.
"We want to shake this up and are conducting a review on the boundary between guidance and advice.”
Advisers may not quite see it that way – the big issue being liability. The last time the FCA tried to extend advice, it coincided with a huge increase in maximum FOS payouts. The two are surely not unconnected.
With the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee decision to keep interest rates on hold at 5.25%, Mortgage Strategy reports on a what it calls a flurry of lenders reducing rates.
