Warnings include one against a clone firm operating under the guise of unrelated, properly-regulated business: Capita Registrars Group, based in Dublin in Ireland, which the FCA said has no relation to the regulated Capita IRG Trustees Limited based in Beckenham, Kent.
There were also warnings against two unauthorised firms offering services that could appear to be regulated advice:
• The Masons Corporation, based in New York; and
• The Department of Foreign Investment Control, based in Washington.
The FCA warned that 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.
Last week the regulator issued similar warnings on six 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.
