FSA Compensation scheme?

ddelsabobs

I hope someone can offer some advice we are investors in the Arch Cru investment fund which was suspended 3 years ago.
We have received an offer from the £54 million compensation scheme and we thought it was about 20% however the figure equates to below 15% can anyone help we are in the investment fund?

This is all very confusing as we were very green investors can anyone shed any light on the scheme which is being dealt with by the FSA?
I have read that it will bring us back to the original situation we were in at the start. It's very difficult to make decisions whether to wait for the final decision by the FSA or do we formally complain to the FSA about our IFA?

Any help would be great.

dunstonh

or do we formally complain to the FSA about our IFA?

You complain to the IFA if you feel the advice the IFA gave was wrong.

ddelsabobs

Thanks for the reply but we are worried that if the claim is rejected does it mean that we won't be eligible for the FSA compensation scheme? It's all very confusing and our IFA doesn't seem to be helping very much.
Also if we feel that the offer from the £54 million comp scheme is incorrect who do we go to?

dunstonh

Thanks for the reply but we are worried that if the claim is rejected does it mean that we won't be eligible for the FSA compensation scheme?

I have helped with a couple of complaints on Arch Cru. You dont need to worry about that. If your complaint against the adviser is successful (and in most cases it will be if it was recommended to you as a cautious investment) then the expectation is that the IFA will be liable for their share of the redress with the FSA compensation arrangement covering the other part.

It's all very confusing and our IFA doesn't seem to be helping very much.

You are effectively primed to make a complaint about him that will see him having to pay around £5000 with his insurance paying the rest (like any insurance, if you claim the premiums also go up).

The IFA should not have recommended that. I am not saying that with hindsight as I am on record on these forums saying that an IFA should not recommend this fund prior to the troubles it had. ( http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=14706739&postcount=5 ). The IFA is responsible for doing due diligence on the fund. Your IFA failed to do due diligence as if he had he would have come to the same conclusion I did (and the majority of other advisers who did not use it). With so much of the fund undisclosed and a good proportion made up of private equity, it was impossible to class it as cautious.

In a way it is a shame that the IFAs are taking the bulk the brunt on this. And ironically, IFAs like myself, who didnt use it, will also be paying towards it as part of the bill will be paid by those advisers that remain trading and not those that sold it. Those that ran the fund and administered it and provided the marketing and data are getting off lightly.

Also if we feel that the offer from the £54 million comp scheme is incorrect who do we go to?

You don't The £54m compensation scheme is something the FSA arranged. If you dont agree with it then you only real option is to write to your MP.

ddelsabobs

Thank you so much for your help, as you have stated you have already helped a few people with claims would you be prepared to help us?
We feel that we're not aware of the facts enough to do this ourselves,we are only ordinary people and have never had to deal with anything like this before as I stated this was the first time we'd ever been involved with investments of any kind.
Please can you help us or point us in the right direction for support?