The Financial Services Vulnerability Taskforce has published a report outlining best practice recommendations for industry for dealing with customers in vulnerable circumstances. It identifies nine principles intended to improve outcomes for customers in vulnerable circumstances and features a number of case studies. The full report can be read here.

Two firm directors who lost investors £50m in a scheme the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) branded “an elaborate scam” have been sentenced to a total of 12 years in prison. Richard Aston Clay was sentenced to ten years and ten months. Kathryn Clark was given a two year suspended sentence. Michael Cotter of law firm […]

The FCA has published findings of the first stage of its post-implementation review of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), including that: financial advisers are offering investors an increasingly professional service tailored to their individual needs; an increasing number of financial advisers are gaining further qualifications; and the impact of RDR on price has been mixed. […]

The FCA has fined Chase de Vere Independent Financial Advisers Limited (Chase de Vere) £560,000 (including a 30 per cent settlement discount) for misselling Keydata products. Between 2005 and 2009, Chase de Vere’s advisers sold Keydata life settlement products to 2,806 customers who collectively invested £49.3 million. The FCA found that 139 customers invested a […]

Peter Carron, a former financial adviser at St James’s Place Wealth Management, has been fined £300,000 and banned for conduct that breached Principle 1 of the statements of principle for approved persons. Mr Carron advised 11 clients to invest £2.4 million in three companies of which he was a director and majority shareholder and failed […]

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) and Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) have published joint guidance for insurers and financial advisers on the tax information requirements for new customers following the implementation of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in the UK. The new requirements require life insurers to know the tax […]

Many financial advisers are still swerving questions about fees one year after the implementation of the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) an investigation by Which? has found. Which? research found that more than half of the advisers questioned refrained from revealing how much they charge until customers meet with them in person. The vast majority investigated […]