Self-invested personal pension (Sipp) provider Lifetime Sipp has entered administration following claims lodged against the company by unhappy investors, FTAdviser can reveal.
The company appointed insolvency practitioners Kingston Smith & Partners as joint administrators on 29 March to try and salvage the firm.
In a letter sent to creditors on 6 April, seen by FTAdviser, joint administrator Ian Robert said the firm was not conducting any new business, and had received claims from a number of investors, some of which have been raised with the Financial Ombudsman Service (Fos).
It is not clear the nature of the complaints against Lifetime which led to its collapse.
But it is understood the Sipp provider has some exposure to failed Harlequin investments on its books, which were valued at nil by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), and have been the subject of hundreds of compensation claims and complaints.
Mr Robert invited claimants to forward the details of their claim so they can be registered as creditors.
He also asked for any evidence or concern about the way the company has conducted its business in the past.
Administration for Lifetime Sipp’s business was being undertaken by Sipp and small self-administered scheme administrator Hartley SAS and this arrangement is now under review.
Lifetime’s failure follows in the wake of Brooklands, Montpelier and Stadia, which are now being dealt with by the FSCS
Lawyers close to the situation believe Lifetime clients too will end up claiming from the lifeboat scheme, which has an upper compensation limit of £50,000 for investments.
Hartley SAS and Lifetime Sipp were bought into by the Wilton group in 2015. At the time they had more than £1bn of assets under management.
carmen.reichman@ft.com
