Whether or not you think it is coming home or not, this week was remarkable enough for the sight of England winning a penalty shoot-out.
Of course, if you are reading this on Saturday evening it could be England coming home, but instead of worrying about that it is time to find out what grabbed financial advisers attention aside from the World Cup in the week in news.
1) Sipp of the iceberg
Advice relating to self-invested personal pension (Sipp) investments has been one of the mains reasons for increasing regulatory levies for several years.
Now the Financial Conduct Authority has revealed it has 33 open investigations into advisers the watchdog suspects have given poor advice to transfer into a Sipp.
In a letter to Frank Field, chairman of the Work & Pensions select committee, Megan Butler, the FCA’s director of investment, wholesale and specialist supervision, said the watchdog is "considering what action to take in each case".
She also revealed the regulator has already prohibited four advisers and banned another from holding a senior position as a result of its investigations in this market.
2) Waspi women chance their arm
This weekend the Prime Minister is attempting to unravel Brexit, which the philosopher Danny Dyer notably referred to as a "mad riddle" recently and which is likely to affect the future of this country for generations and is threatening to divide her party.
But the group of women born in the 1950s affected by an increase in the state pension age hope to convince Theresa May to set that to one side and discuss possible solutions of recompense.
The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) campaign claimed while the 1995 Conservative government's Pension Act included plans to increase the women’s state pension age to 65 – the same as men's – the changes were implemented unfairly, with little or no personal notice.
The movement this week organised a silent protest in London and published an open letter to Mrs May, signed by all local campaign groups, calling on the prime minister, a "50s-born woman herself, to give Waspi women back their future and work towards a suitable solution".
3) Regulator gets a taste of its own medicine
The Financial Conduct Authority - normally the one which hands out the fines - found itself in the unusual situation of having to pay back £22,000 to an investor.
This was because the Complaints Commissioner upheld a complaint against the regulator about its register, which the commissioner said was "woefully inaccurate" and lead to an investor losing money to a scammer.
The Complaints Commissioner heard the investor purchased bonds from a company purporting to be a credit union in 2016 but before doing so checked the FCA's register, which told them the "credit union" was authorised.
But in reality it had been dissolved in 2012, which the FCA had been aware of yet it had not updated its register because it prioritised making other updates to the list of authorised firms.
In the intervening four years between then and when the investment was made, a clone firm assumed its identity.
In upholding the investor's complaint, commissioner Antony Townsend said: "This was more than a simple oversight. The record clearly shows that there was an awareness of the situation, but no effective action was taken until [the] complaint was lodged.
"Worse, the records which I have studied give me no confidence that the responsible departments understand the seriousness of the FCA’s failings."
He ruled the FCA should pay back half of the money the investor lost because of the investment.
4) Adviser has 14 million problems
A wealth manager, well-known to London's Jewish community, is set to appear before a judge and jury later this month accused of fraud totaling between £14m and £15m.
The case of Freddy David, a former managing director of Hertfordshire-based HBFS, was referred to the crown court by City of London Magistrates this week.
Prosecutors said further witness statements were in the process of being added which would add "another seven figures" to the amount in question.
He has been charged with obtaining money transfer by deception and fraud by abuse of position.
Mr David, 49, from Elstree, did not enter a plea and was bailed to appear before Southwark Crown Court on 30 July.
5) DWP changes compensation rules
The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) is making changes to the compensation rules in the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) to make sure a recent court ruling doesn’t affect some of its current members.
The government is claiming if the rules aren’t changed, some individuals in receipt of survivor benefits could see their payments reduced, and in some cases, stop altogether, due to the unintended outcome of the court case.
The High Court ruled in October that a member who transferred benefits to a final salary scheme, and was given a fixed pension transfer credit, was entitled to PPF compensation calculated separately for his two pension entitlements.
In terms of the compensation cap, the practical implication of the ruling is that people with a relevant fixed pension derived from a transfer could receive more PPF compensation than someone whose pension benefits were made up entirely of actual pensionable service within the scheme.
In a consultation issued today (3 July), the government argued this judgment could also lead to a number of wider perverse and unintended outcomes for a range of individuals “whose PPF compensation was derived, wholly or in part, from a relevant fixed pension”.
damian.fantato@ft.com
