It seems only to fair to ask whether we are in the midst of a regulatory crisis. There has been a constant stream of bad news regarding missales and bad behaviour. Advisers’ patience may be running out with what seems to be the FCA's inability to catch the bad guys until it is too late.
This week, Norwich-based Taylor and Taylor, the IFA firm in which the director brothers have been imprisoned for fraud – fell on the FSCS as New Model Adviser reports.
Wealth management boss Freddy David, who was jailed over a £14.5m ponzi scheme is handed a final notice by the FCA as Money Marketing reports. There are lots of comments from advisers about how long the scheme/firm was allowed to operate for i.e. since 2005.
This paragraph from the final notice is quite an eye-opener. David “used the majority of the money of the 55 HBFS clients to fund his gambling habit, with a lesser amount used to pay school fees, mortgage payments, personal investments and spending abroad. In the 12 years from January 2005 to October 2017, Mr David spent approximately £15 million on gambling websites which provided returns of approximately £1.5 million”.
One wonders what the asset allocation was on the money that was invested.
In the wake of stories like this, it is interesting that Nick Bamford suggests getting rid of the rulebook and replacing it with a simple code of conduct. I understand the frustration but it’s probably not a runner. Yet surely something has to give.
Neptune’s Robin Geffen warns investors to expect dividend cuts from some previously reliable payers.
Investec has closed its robo-adviser which it says will have an impact on around 50 employees.
Quilter’s Steve Levin argues that the FCA’s investment pathways are largely on the right track though we can’t leave pathway users believing that everything is sorted as a result.
It would be interesting to get the platforms to debate this as views seem to vary significantly.
