The FCA has banned a financial adviser and fined him for giving misleading advice and lacking integrity.
Paul Reynolds, who has also been fined £290,344, was an approved person with Worcestershire-based Aspire Personal Finance between 2005 and 2010.
During this time, the FCA said, he recommended a number of complex, high-risk products to his clients, many of whom were on low incomes and had little or no investment experience.
In some cases, the FCA found, Mr Reynolds’ clients were unaware they had invested in unregulated investments and were not told of the associated risks.
Suitability letters found on the clients’ files, which did explain the risks, had not been sent to the clients.
Georgina Philippou, acting director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “This fine reflects the fact that we will not hesitate to take action against firms or individuals who fail to put the best interests of their clients first.”
The FCA’s investigation found Mr Reynolds recommended high-risk investments to eight clients while aware he could not justify their suitability.
He was found to have retrospectively created documents explaining the risks of the products for client files, and represented that they were contemporaneous and had been sent to his clients.
The regulator also found he was involved in the forging of the signatures of two clients and the production of inflated valuations of clients’ investments.
A final notice issued by the FCA said Mr Reynolds advised six of the eight clients to invest a total of approximately £1.5m in GTEPs and seven to invest at least £591,480 in Ucis.
According to the Financial Services Register, Mr Reynolds was director and chief executive of Aspire Personal Finance between 2007 and 2013. He joined the register in 2001 when he became an investment adviser with Investment Strategies (UK).
