Mattioli Woods has been appointed to administer the self-invested personal pensions of Stadia, which was forced to cease accepting new business following a variation of permission in 2013.
This transfer includes the Noisnep Sipp, Essential Sipp, Essex Community Foundation Sipp, Hero Sipp, Investor Club Sipp, Ipswich Sipp, Liberator Sipp and Munro Sipp - all operated by Stadia Trustees Limited, working in conjunction with the Financial Conduct Authority.
Stadia now intends to wind-up the schemes, securing the benefits of members by transferring their assets to alternative pension arrangements.
Mattioli Woods has worked closely with Stadia to secure its appointment to administer the wind-up of the schemes and transfer members’ assets to new pension arrangements, including a default arrangement provided by Mattioli Woods, for a consideration of £120,000 payable over a three month period following completion.
The estimated total value of clients’ assets is £100m, held between approximately 1,200 separate arrangements.
Chief executive Ian Mattioli commented: “We look forward to working closely with members of the Stadia schemes to deliver bespoke personal service and specialist advice.”
Back in 2011, FTAdviser reported that Stadia Trustees’ then managing director Tony Hales said the list of investments that HM Revenue & Customs allows investors to place into a Sipp is fundamentally different to the number of regulated investment options.
Around half of Stadia Trustees investments were in unregulated investments and Mr Hales warned there was a danger for Sipp providers due to the lack of regulatory consistency.
In 2013, Stadia Trustees was forced to stop accepting all new regulated business after it varied regulatory permissions in order to undergo ‘structural changes’.
A note on the then Financial Services Authority register read: “Stadia will cease to accept all new business from new and/or existing clients for which it has Part IV permission with immediate effect.
“New business is deemed to be any business that is not already contracted with the client prior to this variation taking effect.”
peter.walker@ft.com
