The partner for law firm Robin Simon, part of financial services group Triton Global, warned that trends in claims are also linked to the economic climate, and advisers could find themselves at the wrong end of a claim based on performance of a product.
He said: “Our IFAs tell us they have noticed a steady increase in the numbers of complaints and claims against them in recent years.
“This is partly over payment protection insurance, but complaints about self-invested personal pensions, interest rate swaps and tax deferral/mitigation schemes such as film partnerships are also on the rise.”
He said while some advisers may have been subject to spurious claims brought by CMCs, advisers were also likely to see claims brought against them because of the economic climate.
Mr Chaplin added: “This is inevitable given that the success of the product is so strongly intertwined with the state of the economy.
“Nobody ever sued their advisor for mis-selling them an investment that went on to perform better than expected! But when the product does not perform well, clients often look to recover some of their losses from their IFA, even if the advice was impeccable.”
To help protect themselves, Mr Chaplin suggested that they were certain they had documented properly the reasons why the product appeared appropriate for their client at the time.
A spokesman for Fos said: “We have seen more claims coming against financial advisers within a spectrum of complaints increasing over the past few years, but the uphold rate for complaints against them have fallen.
“But compared with the general industry, the volume of complaints against advisers is still very small.”
Chris Hannant, director general of the Association of Professional Financial Advisers, said: “CMC complaints are certainly a concern for advisers and we are hearing more from members about this.
“Anecdotal evidence suggests that they are suffering from CMCs, and we have had lengthy meetings with the Ministry of Justice over the fact that CMCs are pushing for spurious complaints and we want more protection for advisers.”
