It would seem to defy logic but thousands of investors who lost millions in the London Capital & Finance (LCF) mini-bond have been granted a judicial review against the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The case will challenge the FSCS decision to grant compensation to only a 'handful' of victims of the LCF scam reports Yahoo!Finance reports.
Admittedly it would need a study to prove it, but I get the sense that there has been a trend in cases of this nature to find in favour of the consumer, but this surely would require a significant reappraisal of workings of the scheme where it to apply to advice delivered by an non-regulated entity.
A financial planning business RMS Advisory set up by Rugby World Cup winner Francois Louw, has joined Financial Planning network Sanlam Partnerships. Louw was in the winning South African side in 2019 and played for Bath for a decade. The firm has a specialist arm to provide financial planning to sportsmen and women.
This is pretty basic stuff – the FCA report and accounts show that £135m was paid to over 32,500 customers of insurers for the failure to provide information about enhanced annuities options. The two major culprits are Prudential and Standard Life. Not good but at least resolvable given the ‘deep pockets’ involved.
HMRC arrested two people as part of an investigation into a suspected £70,000 abuse of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme or in other words the furlough scheme. It attended residential addresses on 10th September in the Romford and Walthamstow areas of London, where a 43-year-old accountant and a 51-year-old company director were detained and IT equipment seized.
A worrying trend. Citywire suggests that three in four advisers have seen business fall due to COVID-19. This is from relatively small numbers attending the New Model Adviser retreat. But it does suggest advisers may need to consider ways to improve the flow of new business especially in light of the likely new restrictions.
