Hoodless Brennan

westy23

hello all.
in light of the recent negative press about Hoodless Brennan,what protection/compensation would i have for
my Hoodless Brennan online account,the shares are held in
a CREST nominee account, if the worst should happen,like they ceased trading for whatever reason.
worried westy.

Geoffo_M

What "negative recent press". Have I missed something. I have an account with them.

Franko43

LONDON (Reuters) - The financial services regulator fined stockbroker Hoodless Brennan 90,000 pounds for "unacceptable sales practices and not treating customers fairly", it said on Thursday.

The Financial Services Authority said it fined Hoodless Brennan in relation to selling shares in Knowledge Technology Solutions (KTS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) in June and July 2003.

The FSA said Hoodless Brennan's brokers had persuaded customers to buy KTS stock when they were not ready to do so and persuaded customers to take more stock than they appeared to want. They also used information about a contract between Hoodless and KTS, that was not in the public domain, as an inappropriate sales aid, the FSA said.

And I was about to open an account with them!!!!

Mr_Mumble

westy,

100% of the first 30K
90% of the next 20K

So 48K of the first 50K is covered by the FSCS.

Geoffo,

They've been fined by the FSA for advise given, check out the last few posts in the Share Dealing Discussion Area. Along with the wire story posted by Franko you can find more at google news.

dunstonh

£90,000 is a tiny fine and not even a real slap on the wrist. The FSA has been looking to fine someone under TCF rules and that is probably the only reason that this has got the press it has.

cheerfulcat

dh, the tiny fine is more symptomatic of the FSA's uselessness than it is an indicator of the seriousness of HB's transgression. HB has acted almost like a boiler room outfit on occasion; I have read complaints about their tactics. They have been in trouble before, too ( link and link ). I don't like the fact that HB might have an interest in companies whose shares it recommends to clients.

dunstonh

Typical FSA. focus on issues the consumer is not concerned about but dont care about the issues that do concern consumers.

cheerfulcat

Typical FSA. focus on issues the consumer is not concerned about but dont care about the issues that do concern consumers.

Not sure I follow that, tbh. What they were fined for the first time amounts to market manipulation AFAICS, a concern for all investors.

dunstonh

I mean that they fine companies much larger amounts for small issues and small amounts for large issues. I recall LTSB getting fined over £1 mill some years back because a small number of PEP investors missed the tax year. LTSB put all them right financially to ensure no loss and disclosed it to the regulator. The regulator then went on to fine them 1 mill for being honest.

FSA action and fines rarely seem to reflect severity of the issues.

EdInvestor

I agree the fines are a slap on the wrist and have virtually no effect in most cases.

What they really need to do is go for the people in charge of making the errors, and place a ban on them.

Look at the squealing over the extradition of the Natwest Three and the arrest of the boss of BetonSports in the US.

It's only when it gets personal that you see people taking action to end abuses.

cheerfulcat

Oh, right. Yes, I have to agree. The FSA is a bit of a farce.