CompaniesAug 24 2016

FSCS pays out £1m so far for firm’s advice

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FSCS pays out £1m so far for firm’s advice

A financial advice firm declared in default late last year has generated more than 400 claims, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme has said.

Blueinfinitas, which was based in Weston-super-Mare, was declared in default in December and is currently in liquidation.

Joe Sadler, an insolvency practitioner with Elwell Watchorn & Saxton, which is dealing with the liquidation of Blueinfinitas, told FTAdviser there were limited assets to pay the firm’s liabilities.

He said: “As regards the liquidation, we are telling people there are limited funds. We don’t even think we can afford to pay the accountants, solicitors and insolvency firm.

“I don’t think there will be a large amount of money available. This is one where the clients need to get advice from the FSCS.”

A spokeswoman for the FSCS said that to date it has paid out £1.1m in compensation on 52 of the claims it has received.

The Financial Ombudsman Service has adjudicated on two complaints against Blueinfinitas in the past three years.

Both of those decisions, which were reached in December 2015 and January 2016, related to transfers into self-invested personal pensions.

One related to a man who was advised to transfer £64,000 into a Sipp, investing £33,000 in an unregulated property investment called Windermere Hydro Hotel, while the other saw £57,000 transferred into a Sipp and £29,000 invested in an unregulated property fund.

In both cases the complaints against Blueinfinitas, which also traded as Dominic James Barry, were upheld.

In July the FSCS said that during 2015 to 2016 it had paid out nearly £77m in claims relating to Sipps.

A spokesman for the FSCS has said it has already received a substantial number of similar claims during this financial year and added that it expects the trend to continue.

A spokesman for Blueinfinistas could not be reached for comment.