Now the Financial Ombudsman Services (FOS) has agreed once more that, on a number of occasions, the SIPP provider failed to act in the client’s best interests. The SIPP provider on this occasion is Heritage Pensions Limited.
The Story:
Pension Transfer Advice
Clients were introduced to the idea of transferring their pensions and making investments by an unregulated introducer.
TailorMade Alternative Investments Limited offered pension reviews and unregulated investments, using TailorMade Independent Limited to provide advice on a SIPP wrapper with Heritage – failing to advise on the underlying, esoteric investment.
Does this sound familiar? You may recall that the TailorMade Group got into trouble years ago. The Group of companies had two trading arms:
- TailorMade Independent Limited – a regulated financial advisor
- TailorMade Alternative Investments Limited – an unregulated firm introducing clients to regulated advisors to arrange pension transfers
Not only did the directors fail to act in the clients’ best interests by failing to advise on the underlying investments when arranging pension transfers, but they also failed to disclose the commissions they earned from both businesses, regulated & unregulated!
High Risk Investments
An Ombudsman has now reviewed Heritage’s due diligence process and found that the firm was aware of the unusual nature of the process surrounding the TailorMade Group of companies and that it should have concluded that its sales process or business model was high risk and did not treat customers fairly.
It should have therefore concluded that it did not have confidence in TailorMade as an introducer as it had done with other firms that had approached it.
Heritage was therefore responsible for the client’s loss as they should have not accepted the application.
Compensation
The Ombudsman ordered Heritage to pay compensation which should include any money the client was previously awarded by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)
1. Calculate the loss the client has suffered as a result of making the transfer.
2. Take ownership of the Harlequin Property and the Green Oil, and SCS Farmland investments if possible.
3. Pay the client £500 for distress and inconvenience.
Unsuitable Pension Transfer or Investment Advice
Our team possess a deep knowledge of pension and investment compensation and welcome your call to find out if you too can make a successful claim. So you’ve nothing to lose and everything to gain by calling us on 0333 358 0074.
If you had dealings with any of the firms named in this article and transferred your pension or invested money with them, you may have been given unsuitable advice. We strongly advise you should get your pension transactions reviewed by a claims expert.
This also applies to you have previously made a claim and have not been fully compensated for your losses! We know how to do our job – let us get on with it and remove your worry about how to get compensation.
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Take advantage of our pension claim consulting service. We offer a free assessment of your situation to find out if you may be owed money redress or other compensation. Don’t delay because there are time limits to claim your compensation. The time to act is now!
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