The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined a claims management company £70,000 for misleading consumers and banks.
This was the first action taken by the FCA since the regulator was granted powers to oversee the claims management sector in April 2019.
In a release announcing the fine the FCA said Professional Personal Claims Limited distributed material via its website and printed content which used the logos of five major UK banks.
The regulator believes this was intended to mislead consumers into believing they were submitting a claim for mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) directly to the banks involved, rather than engaging Personal Claims Limited to act on their behalf in return for a fee.
The FCA added the CMC had failed in its responsibility to its clients by not properly presenting “accurate, fully formed, detailed and specific” claims to the banks.
Instead the firm, according to the regulator, submitted claims that contained identical factual allegations for multiple clients, when each client should have had unique evidence presented.
Mark Seward, executive director for enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “CMCs have an important role to play in helping to secure compensation for their customers. This is especially true in the case of those consumers who might not otherwise make a claim.
"PPC’s misleading website and marketing material suggested PPC was associated with the five banks when this was not the case.
"Claims management firms must ensure their advertising is accurate. Not only in terms of what they say about themselves and their services but also in terms of what is represented.”
PPC had originally been investigated and fined by the Claims Management Regulator following an investigation into a number of complaints between October 2015 and March 2017.
In December 2018 the CMR imposed a £70,000 fine on the company. PPC appealed the fine in December 2018 to the First-tier Tribunal.
While the appeal was pending the FCA took over regulation of CMCs and on September 16, 2019, after reviewing the evidence put forward by the FCA, PPC withdrew its appeal and the FCA imposed the £70,000 fine for the failings identified in the CMR’s penalty notice.
david.thorpe@ft.com
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