A financial adviser is taking Tenet Connect to court after it deducted his Financial Conduct Authority levy after he ceased to be registered as one of its appointed representatives.
Tenet claims Paul Morris of Sheffield-based Metro Financial Solutions was an appointed representative during the period when it pays its fees, and that therefore he is liable to pay out £2,657.30 for the year 2017 to 2018.
The network has said he is bound by his appointed representative agreement to pay because the company’s fees are based on Tenet’s declared income for the year running between October and September of the year before the FCA’s fees are due – a period during which Mr Morris was with Tenet.
In his witness statement, Mr Morris disputed whether a memo issued by Tenet in August 2013 amounted to a permanent change to his contract.
The memo stated that following a review to its charging methodology, Tenet would be charging fees for 2014 to 2015 to any firm registered with the company as of 30 September 2013 based on their income profile.
Mr Morris left Tenet on 30 September 2016 after 15 years because it coincided with the renewal of his professional indemnity insurance.
In the statement Mr Morris said: “I had no problem with what they did in those years since one way or another I would have had to pay my contribution to the FCA annual levy for the years I was part of the Tenet network.
"Indeed Tenet have charged me the full year for 2016 to 2017 but I have no problem with that since it was my decision to leave part way through the year.
“What I do have a problem with is that they are unilaterally attempting to make me contribute to their annual levy for 2017 to 2018 being a period long after I have left their network and when I pay my own annual levy direct to the FCA.
“This is wholly wrong. The memo was not a permanent change to the terms of service.”
However Tenet responded to Mr Morris’s concerns by saying that fees are paid based on Tenet’s prior full financial year and that the FCA needed all data by 28 February.
Tenet declined to comment, since at the time Financial Adviser went to press the case was the subject of legal action.
damian.fantato@ft.com
