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Comsure operates in:the UK, Jersey, Guernsey

FSA bans another adviser over Ucis failings

29 Oct 2012

FSA bans another adviser over Ucis failings – Customers poured investments into unregulated schemes which were unlikely to be suitable for their

needs. – The Financial Services Authority has banned Martin Rigney of Derbyshire-based advice firm Topps Rogers Financial Management and fined him £117,330 over failings in relation to unregulated collective investment scheme recommendations.

Mr Rigney, partner and sole adviser at Topps Rogers, allegedly recommended Ucis to customers without adequately assessing their suitability or explaining why he made those recommendations.

As a result, customers invested a substantial proportion of their portfolios in Ucis which were unlikely to be suitable.

One of Rigney’s customers invested 89 per cent of his investment portfolio in Ucis. Rigney also advised a retired couple to put 80 per cent of their investment portfolio in Ucis to provide an income for their retirement.

In May 2010, after he had agreed to stop promoting and advising on Ucis, he arranged a Ucis sale when he attempted to transfer two existing customers’ holdings in a Ucis to a new customer. He did not tell his customer that the Ucis he was recommending had been suspended in 2008.

Mr Rigney also carried out discretionary portfolio management without his customers’ knowledge. He switched customers’ investments into UCIS without notifying them or obtaining their signatures prior to making the transactions. For example, two customers said they were away on holiday on the date that the dealing instruction forms were submitted and therefore could not have signed the forms.

Last month, (20 September), the FSA fined Pi Financial £58,300 for advising its clients to invest in Ucis which the regulator deemed unsuitable.

The regulator has also asked providers for lists of advisers who have recommended Ucis, one compliance consulting firm claimed.

Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement and financial crime at the FSA, said: “Martin Rigney demonstrated a serious lack of competence by promoting complex, high risk products to his customers when they were clearly not right for his clients’ needs. He also acted without integrity by continuing to promote Ucis when he had no permission to do so, and arranging Ucis sales without his customers’ knowledge. His actions show a fundamental disregard for the interests of his customers.

“Under Rigney’s watch, Topps Rogers advised 94 customers to invest over £12m in Ucis. We have made our views on Ucis very clear: These high risk, complex products should not be promoted to the vast majority of retail investors in the UK.
“We will continue to take tough action against firms and senior management when they mis-sell these high risk products.”

http://www.ftadviser.com/2012/10/29/regulation/regulators/fsa-bans-another-adviser-over-ucis-failings-0Yvk2yOv8HT6HdFjalZe7L/article.html


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