Ex-director banned by FCA for Sipp related failings

An ex-director of an advisory firm has been banned for Sipp related failings that left many customers facing losing all of their pension funds. Robert Shaw, who worked at TailorMade Independent Ltd, has been barred from senior positions in financial services and fined £165,900 by the FCA.The FCA found Mr Shaw “failed to ensure that TMI assessed the suitability of investments made through Sipps for its customers, and failed to ensure that TMI identified and managed its conflicts of interests.”His case connected to the investment of £112,420,985 by 1,661 customers into investment products between 2010 and 2013. Many of these were not typically permitted by their existing pension schemes, the FCA said. {desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile}More than half of the affected customers invested in overseas property operated by the Harlequin group of companies, which have come under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.Georgina Philippou, acting director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “Robert Shaw exposed customers to risky investments without considering if these products would meet their needs.“In addition, he personally benefitted from sales of these products without revealing to customers the full extent of the benefits he received. His actions mean that many customers faced losing all of their hard earned pension funds. This is not the conduct we expect of senior individuals.”The FCA found that Mr Shaw “benefited financially from being the director and shareholder of TailorMade Alternative Investments, an unregulated introducer, which referred clients to TMI”.The FCA stated: “The financial benefit he received created a conflict of interest with his duty to TMI’s customers to run the business compliantly.“These payments created a conflict of interest and so should have been identified, and then disclosed to customers. However, no adequate disclosure was made.“The issue was compounded by Mr Shaw’s failure to act when TMI’s external compliance consultants warned it of the need to consider and disclose conflicts of interest to customers.”Officials said that TMI provided advice to customers on transferring their existing pension funds into unregulated investments such as green oil, biofuels, farmland and overseas property via Sipps.As a director with responsibility for the management and oversight of TMI, Mr Shaw should have ensured that TMI considered the suitability of the investment products for customers but failed to do so, FCA chiefs added. TMI has ceased trading and is now in liquidation.The Financial Services Compensation Scheme is investigating claims made by TMI’s customers.The FCA wrote to the CEOs of all Sipp firms in 2014 asking them to take action to ensure that their business operates within FCA rules.

Ex-director banned by FCA for Sipp related failings

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