Warnings include one against a clone firms operating under the guise of unrelated, properly-regulated business: Edgewood Equities Capital Investment Inc, based on Broad Street in London, which the FCA said has no relation to the regulated Edgewood L Select based in Luxembourg.
Another was issued against Cardiff-based Doncaster Wealth Management, also known as Doncaster Wealth Management (Brokers) Ltd, which apparently claims to be related to authorised firm Royden Financial Services but that bears “no association whatsoever” with the firm.
There were also warnings against four unauthorised firms offering services that could appear to be regulated advice:
• Mohmed’s Housing Group;
• Hermann Brothers Group, based in New York;
• Meridian Marketing (UK) Limited; and
• Milton Keynes Capital Partners LLP.
Customers who do business with unauthorised firms will not have recourse to the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if they feel they have been wronged, the FCA said.
Last week the regulator issued similar warnings on five different firms. A proliferation of these warnings is part of the new regulator’s strategy and aims to prevent problems rather than fix them after they have occurred.
