IFA deemed "not a fit and proper person" by FSA. Is it bad?

dunstonh

dunstonh, forgive my ignorance, can you clarify for me why she's not an IFA?

Before I do that, it's probably a good idea to get some clarification on the status as I am getting confused to what she is and where she is.

You said she was not allowed to hold directorship in a fianancial services company as she was struck off by the FSA. However, she is presenting herself as a managing director of a financial services firm. So, either she is telling lies or the firm is not FSA authorised.

The term IFA, in the UK, can only be used by FSA authorised individuals.

Financial advisers operating abroad are not bound by FSA regulations. They could call themselves whatever they like but if they use the term IFA, then it does not mean the same as the UK version. Just because someone says they are something, doesnt mean they are. In the UK the FSA would deal with it. Overseas it is at the whim of that country's regulator.

There are ex pat action groups against unregulated, unlicenced "advisers" targeting expats and it appears to be a common problem in some countries. So you really need to be cautious.

In Spain alone, as of May 2006, the Spanish regulator (which is nowhere near as powerful as the UK's FSA) is investigating 17,000 complaints of mi-selling to expats. Most, will probably fail as there is no regulation of financial advisers in Spain.

Market_Oracle

The moral of the story is, educate yourselves

MrBean_2

dunstonh wrote:

Before I do that, it's probably a good idea to get some clarification on the status as I am getting confused to what she is and where she is.

You said she was not allowed to hold directorship in a fianancial services company as she was struck off by the FSA. However, she is presenting herself as a managing director of a financial services firm. So, either she is telling lies or the firm is not FSA authorised.

The term IFA, in the UK, can only be used by FSA authorised individuals.

Financial advisers operating abroad are not bound by FSA regulations. They could call themselves whatever they like but if they use the term IFA, then it does not mean the same as the UK version. Just because someone says they are something, doesnt mean they are. In the UK the FSA would deal with it. Overseas it is at the whim of that country's regulator.

There are ex pat action groups against unregulated, unlicenced "advisers" targeting expats and it appears to be a common problem in some countries. So you really need to be cautious.

In Spain alone, as of May 2006, the Spanish regulator (which is nowhere near as powerful as the UK's FSA) is investigating 17,000 complaints of mi-selling to expats. Most, will probably fail as there is no regulation of financial advisers in Spain.

Thanks again for the reply. To answer your question about her status:
1. she is currently operating abroad in firm XXX where she represents herself as an IFA (I do understand that what she calls herself outside the UK has no relevance as far as the UK regulations are concerned)
2. she also appears as the managing director of second, UK-based firm YYY, in which she represents herself as an IFA. As I stated, this second firm is appointed representative of yet another, FSA-authorized firm ZZZ, of which she is not the director.

A couple of things come to mind:
a. perhaps the information about firm YYY is not up to date;
b. she was deemed not a fit and proper person as director of firm YYY, does this precludes her from presenting herself as IFA in general?

Do you have a reference about the Spanish action? I'm curious.

MrBean_2

ps.
never mind the Spanish reference, I found it.

dunstonh

2. she also appears as the managing director of second, UK-based firm YYY, in which she represents herself as an IFA. As I stated, this second firm is appointed representative of yet another, FSA-authorized firm ZZZ, of which she is not the director.

If she was denied director status, it doesnt mean she would be denied IFA status. However, the firm in the UK cannot be FSA authorised if she is saying she is a director of it as you said the FSA wouldnt let her be a director. If the firm is not FSA authorised, then she cant be an IFA.

Have you checked the FSA register to see if she is on there?

If you want, you can PM me the details (keeping it off the main board) and I can check the register and see what it says.

a. perhaps the information about firm YYY is not up to date;

FSA register is updated daily.

b. she was deemed not a fit and proper person as director of firm YYY, does this precludes her from presenting herself as IFA in general?

No. She may have been a good adviser but poor at running a company. In which case they just ban her on ownership/management/supervisor control functions. However, you said she is managing director of a firm. If the FSA have banned that, how can she be?

MrBean_2

dunstonh wrote:

If she was denied director status, it doesnt mean she would be denied IFA status. However, the firm in the UK cannot be FSA authorised if she is saying she is a director of it as you said the FSA wouldnt let her be a director. If the firm is not FSA authorised, then she cant be an IFA.

Have you checked the FSA register to see if she is on there?

If you want, you can PM me the details (keeping it off the main board) and I can check the register and see what it says.



FSA register is updated daily.



No. She may have been a good adviser but poor at running a company. In which case they just ban her on ownership/management/supervisor control functions. However, you said she is managing director of a firm. If the FSA have banned that, how can she be?

I have just checked the FSA register (thanks for pointing that out):
- The current status of firm YYY is "Appointed Representative - Former".
- The principal firm ZZZ is currently authorized.
- The adviser's status is "inactive" and her history reports that she was previously "CF1 director (AR)" and investment advisor of ZZZ.

What I meant in the previous post is that the information given by firm YYY itself (website) might not be up to date. The above seems to confirm this.

dunstonh

Based on the information on the register, she is not an IFA or a director in an FSA authorised firm.

The other site appears to be out of date (not very clever when the FSA treat company websites as financial promotions and currently have websites hot on their watch list).

To the bottom line though, she isnt what she says she is in the context you were meant to take it.

holloholloway

mr bean this is fascinating, please keep us updated with what happens.