The Financial Conduct Authority has banned Stephen Joseph Burdett and James Paul Goodchild from working in regulated finance services for “recklessly” exposing pension holders to unsuitable investments.
Burdett and Goodchild have also been fined £311,762 and £47,600 respectively by the regulator.
Both individuals held senior positions at Synergy Wealth Limited and Westbury Private Clients, respectively.
It is alleged that Burdett’s actions led to 232 personal pension funds worth more than £10mn being switched into high-risk investment portfolios that the FCA said was “obviously unsuitable” for most customers.
Allegedly the portfolios were created and managed by Goodchild at Westbury with 39 per cent of overall holdings linked to a single offshore property developer.
The FCA said all the portfolios were high-risk however it alleged Burdett’s actions led to customers receiving reports implying they would get low or medium risk portfolios.
According to the regulator, Goodchild included misleading terms like ‘cautious’ and ‘balanced’ in the names of two or three high-risk portfolios.
The FCA revealed that Burdett gained £150,000 from his misconduct while Goodchild also obtained financial benefit, including a short term £50,000 interest free loan from the company which introduced him to the offshore property developer.
To date, the FSCS has paid out more than £1.4mn to victims, after the FCA intervened in 2016 to protect consumers and stop pension businesses of Synergy and Westbury.
Both firms subsequently went into liquidation with Companies House showing that Synergy was dissolved in August 2018 and Westbury in February 2023.
Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “These customers built up pensions over their working lives to help fund their retirement. Burdett and Goodchild worked together to switch their hard-earned pensions into obviously unsuitable high-risk portfolios.
“Both were involved in creating misleading materials and made significant personal profits from their actions. We will not tolerate such conduct.”
alina.khan@ft.com
