Collapsed self-invested personal pension (Sipp) provider Lifetime Sipp is facing close to £56m in claims, documents published by the administrators showed.
The provider entered administration at the end of March, when it appointed Kingston Smith & Partners as its administrators.
By late April the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) confirmed it was accepting claims from clients who lost money investing through the firm, which held assets such as failed property scheme Harlequin.
Lifetime’s latest accounts showed the firm had total net assets worth £1.6m at the end of January 2017.
But the administrators’ document, which was uploaded onto Companies House on 26 May showed £21.95m in consumer claims and £34.56m in other contingent consumer claims were pending against the firm, and it had only £716,000 worth of assets.
FSCS told FTAdviser yesterday (30 May) it had received 19 claims to date - 10 claims were in progress and nine were applications underway.
It is believed about 40 claims are pending with the Financial Ombudsman Service and could yet be referred to the lifeboat fund.
The scheme said it was too early to determine the value of the claims and whether they would fall into the advice or investment provision category.
A deal has meanwhile been brokered with Hartley Pensions is to administer the failed firm’s assets.
Under the agreement Hartley acquired the “untainted” assets and will help wind down the “tainted” book, where the value of the underlying investments has been eroded, including helping clients bring claims with the FSCS.
Under agreements put in place previously Lifetime Sipp already transferred 40 per cent of its Sipps to Hartley in January, before appointing administrators two months later.
carmen.reichman@ft.com
