Since July 2022 when the FCA published its rules and guidance to implement the Consumer Duty, much ink has been spilled on what it will mean for affected firms. Now, with the clock ticking down to implementation on 31 July 2023, the FCA has published the findings of its review of a number of larger … Continue Reading
Following successful trials, the Department of Work and Pensions (“DWP”) announced proposals last Wednesday to introduce a “Stronger Nudge” regime, as part of a package of measures aimed at helping savers make better-informed decisions when it comes to accessing their pension savings, and to further protect them from scams.… Continue Reading
According to XPS, the pensions consultancy firm, in July and August of this year 51% of pension transfers, equating to twenty five million pounds in pension savings, were flagged as at risk of a pension scam.… Continue Reading
CPS Advisory Limited, a Swansea-based advice company, has been fined £130,000 from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for making over 100,000 calls to people without lawful authority between 11 January 2019 and 30 April 2019.… Continue Reading
The Work and Pensions Committee (“WPC”) has launched an investigation into pension scams in the UK and what more can be done to prevent them. This is the first part of a three-stage inquiry that will examine the impact of pension freedoms and protecting pension savers.… Continue Reading
Last week we reported on the FCA’s recent success at trial against pensions introducers Avacade and Alexandra Associates with the High Court deciding that Avacade and Alexandra had provided unregulated pensions advisory services to consumers.… Continue Reading
The FCA has succeeded in its civil claim against two companies and three of their directors found to be providing unregulated pensions advisory services to consumers.… Continue Reading
In a recent letter, Transparency Task Force (“TTF“) founder, Andy Agathangelou, wrote to chairman of the Work and Pensions Select Committee (“Committee“) to formally request an investigation into the growing concern of pensions’ scams as a major public interest issue.… Continue Reading
Earlier this week, the Pensions Regulator (“tPR“) published a strategy paper (“Corporate Plan“) outlining that its focus for the 2020-2021 financial year would be protecting long-term savers.… Continue Reading
Earlier in May, HM Revenue & Customs successfully appealed against a First-tier Tribunal decision that Sippchoice Ltd was entitled to income tax relief at source in relation to its self-invested personal pension scheme (“SIPP”) contributions. The Revenue and Customs Commissioners v Sippchoice Ltd [2020] UKUT 149 (TCC) decision means that tax relief will only be … Continue Reading
The Pensions Policy Institute (“Institute“) has said that a lack of comprehensive data on the number and scale of pensions scams, places limitations on the industry’s ability to effectively protect savers. According to the Institute, “victims of pension scams [are] losing more than £80,000 on average.” There is growing concern from the Institute that during the COVID-19 … Continue Reading
Yesterday, the Court finally gave judgement in Russell Adams v Options SIPP UK LLP, a significant test case on the potential liability of an execution only SIPP provider to an investor whose underlying investment in the SIPP had incurred significant losses. In a 99 page judgment, His Honour Judge Dight decided that the Defendant was … Continue Reading
Last week, the Pensions Regulator (“tPR“), the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA“) and The Money and Pensions Service (“MaPs“) urged savers to keep calm and not rush any decisions about their pension in response to the COVID 19 pandemic.… Continue Reading
The FCA yesterday set out its business priorities for the years ahead, focussing in part on the unique challenges presented to the financial services industry by the Covid 19 pandemic. In this blog we look at three issues that the FCA’s Business Plan for 2020/21 pays special attention to, the regulatory response to the Covid-19 … Continue Reading
Earlier this month, a Wolverhampton-based financial advisor was banned by the Insolvency Service for eight years after his firm provided poor pension investment advice, resulting in clients losing £7 million.… Continue Reading
Earlier this month, the FCA fined a former advisory firm director £23,400 for overseeing the transfer of £112m of pension retirement funds in to risky investments. The FCA is concerned about unsuitable advice around pensions’ transfers and this latest action sends another strong regulatory message to the market about the FCA’s “get tough” approach towards … Continue Reading
The Pensions Ombudsman (“PO”), the independent body that investigates complaints about pensions’ administration, has announced that it will not be able to process any new complaints for the foreseeable future. The COVID – 19 lockdown has meant that the PO can no longer collect or deal with post, although phone lines remain open between 10.00 … Continue Reading
The retirement income market is a key area of FCA focus, particularly the suitability of both products and advice as the industry adapts to pension freedoms. In the FCA’s Sector View Report published on 18 February 2020, Pension freedoms are highlighted as one of the continuing key drivers of change in the sector with more … Continue Reading
Last week, the Court prevented two unregulated introducers and their directors (the “Defendants“) from seeing documents linked to an investigation by the FCA into pensions’ providers and financial providers that did business with the Defendants. The Defendants are currently on trial in the High Court and stand accused of having given unauthorised and misleading advice about … Continue Reading
On 15 May 2019, the Financial Ombudsman Service (“FOS“) published its 2018/2019 Annual Review and some key messages for the industry emerge from that Review which we highlight in this post.… Continue Reading
The FCA’s latest update on its review of pension transfer advice does not make for happy reading. The stats As part of its ongoing review of the pensions transfer industry, the FCA reviewed advice on 154 transfers made by 18 firms (out of a total of 48,248 potential transfers advised on by these firms in … Continue Reading
The recent High Court decision in Caribonum Pension Trustee Limited v Pelikan Hardcopy Production AG [2018] EWHC 2321 (Ch) will provide some comfort for pension plan trustees owed money by insolvent sponsoring employers by allowing trustees to pursue guarantors within the same group for those debts. What was contended to be an abuse of Court process … Continue Reading
Safeguarding pensions and retirement income have been high on the FCA’s agenda for a while now. In the FCA Business Plan for 2018/19 it said: “We want to ensure that consumers are equipped to make good decisions to fund their retirement such as through appropriate advice or guidance, and can access good quality, value for … Continue Reading