The FCA has fined PwC a bracing £15m for failures regarding the auditing of London Capital and Finance scandal.
As Money Marketing reports, this is the first fine of a auditing firm by the FCA.
As MM reports, PwC reportedly encountered significant issues throughout its 2016 audit of LCF finding the audit very complex, and it took “considerably” longer to complete than anticipated. A senior individual at LCF also acted “aggressively” towards auditors with LCF providing inaccurate information.
At one stage PwC began to suspect that LCF might be engaged in fraudulent activity, then decided it was not.
The regulator says PwC was actually still duty bound to report its earlier suspicions.
It is a strange tale altogether with huge failings in regulation as well as the auditing process.
But surely the whole concept looked like a flawed one to almost any financial services person, certainly anyone with any passing experience.
It will be interesting to see how a partnership business such as PwC sets about paying the fine. Some commenters on the story are asking how much PwC earned in fees and suggest any sanction should be what it earned plus a further punitive amount.
However, it’s likely even a big charging consultancy firm would be in the red on this.
As an important footnote, both PwC and Ernst & Young were fined £5m over LCF by the Financial Reporting Council in May as Accountancy Web relates.
FNZ has sold its stake in Timeline for £10.2m, after Timeline CEO Abraham Okusanya confirmed plans to build a platform with Octopus-owned Seccl as New Model Adviser reports.
Since 2018, FNZ is thought to have invested between £2m and £3m, so not a bad return if not world changing for the platform giant.
It does leave one questioning how much the various participants in investment and tech chains care about who is collaborated with and who is not. More perhaps, than we thought?
Advisers within the collapsed Tenet network could face redress bills as the personal guarantees they provided remain legally binding, FTAdviser reports.
The Chartered Insurance Institute and the Personal Finance Society have threatened to remove the memberships of anyone engaging in “unprofessional behaviour” in the wake of what it calls “several incidents of online harassment” in recent weeks.
The professional bodies issued a joint statement today warning members that they will take “appropriate action” against breaches of their code of ethics, as FTAdviser reports.
The CII and PFS also warn they could withdraw membership which is certainly a potent threat given the need for Statements of Professional Standing.
And the pertinent quote is as follows -
“While we encourage members to provide us with honest opinions and feedback, we feel it important to remind that all members of the PFS and CII have a responsibility to conduct themselves in ways that enhance the reputation of our professions.”
This, of course, reads as if the CII and PFS in its current manifestation with parachuted in directors are talking about online attacks on themselves and those promoting the CII corporate line.
A couple of things – let’s be frank the CII has been playing hardball in recent years with hard hitting PR to say the least. And second advisers at times have not paused to consider some of the wording of the some of their complaints or at least not to a sufficient degree.
Sesame Bankhall Group (SBG) has launched two new protection propositions – a short-panel of five and sole-tie solution with Aviva with advisers embedding underwriting in return.
