Sheffield-based Ewan King, a former Intrinsic authorised representative, has been banned and fined £19,900 by the Financial Conduct Authority. He is the first adviser to be banned by the FCA for fabricating his SPS, the regulator said in a statement.
I am willing to bet Mr King is one of many advisers who have faked their qualifications. At first glance, I thought the fine was far too hefty for his crime, but the level of the fine will no doubt deter other advisers from considering faking qualifications.
The watchdog said Intrinsic was not aware that he had faked his SPS and that Mr King had “led the firm to believe” he had a certificate issued by the Chartered Insurance Institute.
The FCA itself only found out about it when it asked the CII itself, which responded simply that he had not applied for or been issued with a statement because he had not reached the right level of qualification.
As several adviser said in the inevitable debate following the story breaking, surely we need to have more robust systems in place to check these things than simply relying on the word of the adviser.
Every industry has its bad eggs: if it was this easy to game the system, then I don’t doubt we’ll find more of these cases coming to light in the coming months.
Sesame not open for non-mainstream advisers
Sesame announced this week at its symposium - which journalists were prohibited from attending - that it will no longer be “an appropriate home” for advisers who deal with non-mainstream investment areas as it carries too much risk.
It looks like Sesame learnt a hard lesson when the regulator issued it with a £6m fine, which was £2m above its profit for 2012, for failing to ensure the advice it gave was suitable on Keydata recommendations and over broader systems and controls weaknesses.
At the event, Stephen Gazard, Sesame Bankhall Group managing director, said it will become increasingly difficult for a large business which supports thousands of different business models to support all the various potential independent investment propositions, “particularly those that include the ability to advise on non-mainstream investments”.
On the network front, Openwork operates a restricted model as does Personal Touch Financial Services, which are largely mortgage-led but does have advisers that deal with investments. Positive Solutions, Intrinsic, Tenet and Financial Ltd all boast of supporting independent networks, but Sesame is betting this won’t last forever.
FCA is not ahead of the game
The FCA has once again closed the stable door after the horse has bolted in its announcement that it will be running RDR workshops.
A FCA spokesperson confirmed to FTAdviser that although the programme is still being worked out, topics will include independent and restricted propositions as well as disclosure.
This follows on from the FCA publishing the first of its three RDR implementation reviews. The first thematic review of 50 firms, published in July, revealed the regulator had concerns about proposition disclosure.
The FCA also said it did not approve of advisers disclosing charges solely in percentages without stating fees in cash terms or offering a cash equivalent and it said some charging structures were confusing for clients.
Surely if the Financial Services Authority had done this prior to the RDR, there would be little need for three RDR implementation reviews?
Cazen-over and out
Following the buyout of Cazenove Capital last year, this week Schroders confirmed it is set to re-brand the firm’s funds as it continues to integrate the boutique asset manager, with some names also being changed to avoid confusion with its existing range.
Marcus Brookes’s multi-manager funds are to be rebranded in March, with four products being merged away as part of the changes, and Schroders also announced that other funds, including top-performing UK equity products run by Julie Dean, Paul Marriage and Matt Hudson, are to be renamed.
The re-brand coincides with the transfer of Cazenove’s retail funds to Schroder’s internal administration system, which FTAdviser sister title Investment Adviser reported would mean administration charges will increase by roughly 10 basis points.
Schroders has promised to remove any initial charges on funds which are not soft-closed.
Platform pricing
Bestinvest has today revealed its new pricing structure, ahead of the looming implementation of the cash rebate ban, and now joins Fidelity, Aviva and Hargreaves Lansdown in the apparent pricing ‘war’, to use hyperbolic terminology that many seem keen to at the moment.
Mark Polson, principal of platform consultancy The Lang Cat, described Bestinvest’s announcement as “more of the same”. Bestinvest seems to positioning itself as the number one in the market for self-invested personal pension investors, claiming to undercut Sipp rivals.
Mr Polson agrees that is the case for those Sipp investors that have less than £50,000 but warned against using it if you have above £250,000. It also looks good value for Isa investors with less than £20,000 but not so good for those who have more than £100,000, he said.
This is an interesting development as this is one platform, it seems, that wants to attract the lower-end of the market.
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