SIPPApr 28 2020

Claims head to FSCS as Liberty Sipp enters administration

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Claims head to FSCS as Liberty Sipp enters administration

Hundreds of claims are expected to land at the Financial Services Compensation Scheme as troubled self-invested personal pension provider Liberty Sipp has fallen into administration.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced today (April 28), that Andrew Poxon and Alex Cadwallader of Leonard Curtis have been appointed as joint administrators of the firm, after it went into administration yesterday.

This came after the firm was dealing with a number of decisions against it from the Financial Ombudsman Service.

The company was advised that it was insolvent based on the number of potential claims relating to high-risk non-standard investments and was advised it should enter administration to provide protection for creditors including former customers, according to the FCA.

The Liberty Sipp Limited business and customer assets were sold to EBS Pensions Limited, part of the Embark Group, in October 2018, which then rebranded the Liberty Sipp as the Option Sipp.

However, the legal entity Liberty Sipp Limited was not part of the sale and retained its liabilities. It consequently had to pay out against any complaints using the assets it held.

In August 2018, it was reported the Fos had received just over 500 complaints about Liberty from clients who had allegedly lost money after making high risk investments.  

The FSCS is now accepting claims against Liberty Sipp Limited, where customers could receive compensation up to £85,000 if their claims are deemed eligible.

amy.austin@ft.com

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