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FSA crackdown on another IFA network

Published on 4 Mar 2010 under category: legal

The FSA have fined the director of an IFA network for failing to monitor its advice to customers because of the speed of the company's expansion.

The director of an IFA network based in Gloucestershire has been fined £49,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for failing to monitor advice given to customers.

Financial Limited's clients may receive money back from a past business review imposed on the company by the watchdog, if further failings are discovered.

According to the FSA, monitoring was left to senior management during a period of expansion for the firm, impacting on the quality of advice given on pension switching between April 2007 and August 2008.

Director Charles Palmer failed to establish appropriate provisional reporting structures during the busy period, the FSA said. Furthermore, Financial Limited did not have enough compliance and support staff to meet its increased workload.
The fine follows last week's announcement of the penalties given to Tenon , for similar failures in customer advice practices.

Margaret Cole, the FSA's director of enforcement and financial crime, said: "As we have demonstrated with this case, and the Tenon example last week, we are following up on our promise to take action against firms who are failing to offer customers suitable pension switching advice."

If you require advice on Professional Negligence please call us on +44 (0)20 7831 0101 and ask for Peter Mellett.