working in Financial Services

treading_carefully

First post. No boos to someone who works in Financial Services.:rotfl: I work as a mortgage and insurance advisor and am concerned about my job should I go bankrupt or enter into an IVA. I may encounter diffs early 2010 and have been reading around this excellent forum for some time now. The FSA rules are mainly concerned with the term "fit and proper conduct" which are open to wide interpretation.

I am interested to know if anyone else on this site can advise if my career is "doomed" should the worst happen. Has anyone else gone through IVA or bankruptcy and still able to work in financial services at the other side.

Thanks for reading..

super7

As far as I'm aware you can't. I am/was an IFA until this Wednesday when I received my order. No financial services firms will take you on without a credit search and that's when you come unstuck, as I know to my cost when I got a job earlier this year only to be given "back word" once my credit check had been done and I hadn't even thought about bankruptcy at that time, I was just heavily indebted.

Also I'd previously had an adviser from the CAB call the FSA anonymously on my behalf and they basically said they'd look at each case individually but it was highly unlikely that a bankrupt would be considered "fit and proper" and so their registration would be declined.

Sorry I can't be anymore positive. On the plus side I don't have to worry about the FTSE or Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee when I get up in the morning anymore.

Tinytim

Hi TC,

Unfortunately, if you declare yourself BR, then the FSA will not permit you to continue in a regulated role, but, according to the FSA, once discharged there is no automatic bar. However, the fact that you have been bankrupt may be sufficient for the fit and proper checks to be failed, especially if there has been any call on the FSCS as a result. If there is no call on the FSCS, and you insure you have adequate follow on PI cover then it may be OK after discharge. Most discharged BR's that are refused permission are refused because they did not disclose the BR, which is a big no no when the FSA find out some time later.

Of course, if you are working for yourself in a DA capacity you would have to meet the capital adequance reuirements, which are a minimum of £5,000 - this in itself would be a serious hurdle for most dischared BR's - capital adequacy may not apply if you are an AR as opposed to DA.

An IVA is not the same, and it is likely that you would be allowed to continue (this is one of the few advantages of an IVA) but please think very carefully and get suitable independent advice from one of the debt charities such as CCCS, National Debtline or CAB - IVA's have very many dissadvantages.

Of course, your thought process should probably more wide ranging, and it is questionable as to whether there is any future for mortgage brokers for the forseeable future. It would be a shame to saddle yourself with an IVA, chasing membership to an industry which is effectively doomed.

salesaddict

I really sympathise with both of you. I have been burying my head in the sand for too long. I estimate by early 2010 I will be in deep financial s**t and I don't think the small private Bank I work for will be keen to keep me on.

Best of luck to both of you.

Itsallgonepearshaped

Hi. I worked in financial services as an acountant up to 2 years ago but not in an FSA regulated role. I've been trying to get back into it but failed and unfortunately ended up going BR. The week after I went BR a friend where I used to work at a private bank phoned me up to say there was a job back in the same department I used to work in that I could definitely do but they wouldn't even let me subit my CV due to the BR. To me this is all a bit shortsighted on there part as a lot of the money I owed was to RBS (parent of the bank I worked for) so if they had taken me back on they would have got some of their money back. As it is, I've just got a job as a health care assistant in a psychiatric hospital on about 20% of what I would have been on and they're not going to get anything ..

treading_carefully

Thanks for replies folks. I agree that the mortgage industry is on its knees but I was keen to maintain a presence in the insurance field as I have a good client base for referrals etc. My debt is all business / property related and like a lot of people the bubble has burst for me. I actually have no personal borrowings for eg car loans, credit cards etc. I was hoping that if the worst happens and after discharge the FSA might be more sympathetic to an application for insurance mediation.