Sesame reappears on Fos complaints list

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Sesame reappears on Fos complaints list
Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

Sesame has re-joined the list of most complained about advice firms published by the Financial Ombudsman Service, alongside St James's Place Wealth Management. 

Data published by the ombudsman this morning (September 30) saw the advice firm re-appear among the most complained about firms during the first half of this year. 

This was after it had dropped off the list for the first time in years at the end of last year.

In the first six months of 2020, Sesame received 82 new complaints against it with 11 related to investments and 31 in the pension category.

In previous years the brunt of Sesame's complaints were about historic advice on life and pensions and decumulation, which it stopped offering in 2015.

A spokesperson for Sesame said many of the latest cases against it also related to historic pension and investment business.

The spokesperson said: "As one of the UK’s longest established financial adviser networks, the referral of 82 cases to the Fos represents a tiny proportion of the business our members have written over many years.

"Sesame also has an uphold rate that is better than the industry average, with 86 per cent of the complaints referred to the Fos rejected."

Sesame trailed slightly behind advice giant St James's Place which received a total of 86 new complaints against it in the first half of this year, including 40 investment and 30 pension complaints. 

A SJP spokesperson said: "We take our client satisfaction very seriously and regret any occasion where a client has cause for complaint. 

"The number of complaints received during the first six months of 2020 continues to be low when compared to our client base of over 760,000."

The Fos lists only businesses that had 30 or more complaints brought against them in the six-month period.

Outside of the advice landscape asset managers and providers also featured on the list, with household name Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management receiving 95 investment and 30 pension complains against it in the six month period. 

But it was provider Aviva which racked up the most pension complaints in the first half of this year, receiving 276 with almost a quarter upheld in favour of the client. 

rachel.mortimer@ft.com 

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