FSCS receives hundreds of claims against defaulted DFM

The lifeboat body said it received 222 claims against Greyfriars, which had seen its permissions restricted by the Financial Conduct Authority before becoming insolvent in 2018 and defaulting last month.

The claims relate to self-invested personal pensions, pension advice and personal pension opt outs. 

Greyfriars was declared in default by the FSCS in April, meaning the lifeboat fund has received at least one eligible claim against the firm.

Administrators had been appointed to Greyfrairs in October 2018, shortly after Hartley Pensions bought the wealth manager's Sipp and small self-administered scheme (Ssas) businesses for £820,000,. 

The advisory arm of Greyfriars was sold to Insight Financial Associates for £440,000 in the same month, while its discretionary fund management division had already been wound down in 2017. 

The FSCS said it was aware that FCA authorised advisers may have recommended people to invest with Greyfriars or to transfer their existing pensions or investments through a self-invested personal pension.  

If the adviser is no longer trading, claims of this nature could also find themselves on the doorstep of the FSCS. 

A statement on the FSCS website read: "FSCS is also accepting and is currently assessing claims against independent financial advisers, which have already been declared in default by FSCS, who advised their clients to invest through Greyfriars.

"Many of these customers were advised by IFAs to transfer their existing pensions into Sipps made up of high risk, non-standard investments, many of which have now become illiquid, which means they can’t currently be sold or traded."

One such adviser, Consumer Wealth, entered liquidation in January last year after receiving 13 Financial Ombudsman Service complaints against it.

rachel.mortimer@ft.com

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