This week..
A crook’s paradise
Following your article ‘FCA eyes advisers in property scheme probe’ (Oct 8).
I’ve seen your article on Dolphin and the regulators advising investors to start claims.
This is sadly just another failure where the majority of UK investors will get nothing.
I invested via a broker who cloned a regulated business.
I’m bitter as there are lots of failures recently: Westway, London Capital & Finance, Asset Life and now Wellesley.
All trading in the UK, all allowed under the regulator’s nose, and who has done little to protect investors.
The whole system isn’t just in need of overhaul – it needs rebuilding to be layman friendly, upfront and transparent in what it does regulate and the actual products within a regulated firm that are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Too many investors have fallen for the FCA logo trap, unaware the products the company offers are not.
What a shambles – a crook’s paradise.
John Cole
Scheme communications
Following your article ‘Advisers brace for “biggest change in years” to public sector pensions’ (Oct 14).
I read with interest your article regarding NHS members of the final salary scheme and the proposed changes to the retirement benefits.
I would only comment at this point that it’s not just NHS workers it will affect.
It will also potentially affect HM Revenue & Customs members, Department for Work and Pensions workers, teachers and many more.
It will be interesting to see how much information these schemes will provide their members in order to make these decisions.
Name and address supplied
Scam concerns
Following your article ‘FCA opens 85 cases over pension scam concerns’ (Oct 6).
The Financial Conduct Authority explained that some businesses operated a two-adviser model whereby the UK-based company gives the transfer advice, and an overseas company gives advice on where the funds may be invested if a transfer proceeds.
Although the UK business advises the saver to stay in the defined benefit scheme, the individual commonly proceeds to transfer into an overseas self-invested personal pension, advised by the overseas company, and then goes on to invest in illiquid, high-risk assets, it said.
The FCA said it was often powerless in these situations as the advice provided by the overseas company falls outside its regulatory perimeter.
Very simple. Make the Sipp provider only allow either:
a) Sipps only available to professional investors and evidence based.
b) Sipps only allowed to have investments managed by a UK, FCA-regulated company.
The obsession of offering everyone freedom to do anything is not helping anyone. Most of the UK population cannot manage a bank account let alone pension investments. UK government and the FCA have created a scammers’ charter.
Name and address supplied
