The Financial Services Compensation Scheme is finalising a claims process for clients of Fyshe Horton Finney Stockbrokers, which entered the ‘special administration regime’ in March.
The FSCS said it has been “working closely” with Paul Boyle and David Clements of Harrisons Business Recovery and Insolvency Limited, the special administrators of the firm, with “the aim of returning funds to clients as quickly as possible”.
The special administrators will be contacting clients to agree their account balances and the FSCS will use these agreed balances to determine the compensation amounts clients will receive, the scheme said in a statement.
FHF entered the ‘special administration regime’ in March, meaning the firm is either unable to pay its debts or likely to be unable to do so in the near future.
FHF is a small investment firm offering discretionary, advisory and execution-only business. The firm’s placement into the regime marked the fourth time the SAR had been initiated by the then Financial Services Authority.
The three other firms previously placed into the regime since the regulations came into force in February 2011 were: MF Global UK Ltd, Worldspreads Ltd and Pritchard Stockbrokers Ltd. The collapse of all three resulted in substantial FSCS levies for intermediaries.
In a statement the FSCS said: “FSCS is currently finalising a claims process for this default and will contact you in due course if you are a potentially eligible claimant.
“For eligible claims of this nature, we can pay up to £50,000 in compensation per person. If you accept any offer of compensation from us, we will then take over your rights to claim against the company.”
The ‘special administration regime’ came into effect in February 2011. In December 2012, HM Treasury announced that it is launching a review of the regime, looking into whether the regulations achieve their objectives and whether they should continue to take affect.
Peter Bloxham will lead the review and was due to make his report to the Treasury by the end of January 2013. A fuller report is expected to follow by the end of June 2013.
