MSE Recommendations - Problems?

PeteThePen1

Just wanted to share with you my recent experience of following up on an MSE Easy Access Savings recommendation.  The two accounts that caught my interest were Atom and GB Bank Ltd which both appeared to offering the best rates at that time (Last week! - w/c 20th Jan).

Atom is app based and has no website presence.  Having just got a new iPad Air we downloaded the App and set about trying to apply.  However the app failed to connect to the company server. We tried this over a couple of days and never got connected.  An email to Atom to ask what was going on produced zero response.  So that looked like a dead loss.

Attempt 2 was GB Bank Ltd which has a flash website and looked promising.  It was present on the the Companies house register and had submitted its accounts on time.  I did not feel like buying a copy of the accounts.  It is registered with the FSCS (10702260)  but not with the FCA.  However it is registers with the Bank of England Prudential Regulation Authority. So, I thought it probably would be an OK investment.  I then set up an account for my wife & myself and the procedure seemed very much the same as other savings organisation with whom we have put our money.  The final step was to move cash from our current account with Santander (the Bank that Likes to say NO). However, the transfer was blocked and passed to Security.  They suggested that since the company was not registered with FCA it was likely to be a scam.   I got a long lecture about scams and found they had blocked me off the account.

Today, I went into the local branch who were rather more helpful.  The looked up some website (something like Euro-bank monitor?) and reported that the company had been making no profits and there were lots of complaints about the projects in which their money was invested as they had not been completed.  Thus, it sounded like a poor investment.

This leads me to a few questions.

Should MSE be recommending organisations that are not FCA regulated since one's bank is going to baulk at transfering money?

What is the purpose of the BOE's PRA if high street banks do not notice that?

Does anybody know what the website for checking out organisations taking depositors cash? (I will pop back to the Branch perhaps tomorrow to see what it was)

I notice that tis week GB Bank has disappeared from MSE listing.  Anybody else had all these problems when following up MSE recommendations?

eskbanker

PeteThePen1 said:

Attempt 2 was GB Bank Ltd which has a flash website and looked promising.  It was present on the the Companies house register and had submitted its accounts on time.  I did not feel like buying a copy of the accounts.  It is registered with the FSCS (10702260)  but not with the FCA.  However it is registers with the Bank of England Prudential Regulation Authority. So, I thought it probably would be an OK investment.  I then set up an account for my wife & myself and the procedure seemed very much the same as other savings organisation with whom we have put our money.  The final step was to move cash from our current account with Santander (the Bank that Likes to say NO). However, the transfer was blocked and passed to Security.  They suggested that since the company was not registered with FCA it was likely to be a scam.   I got a long lecture about scams and found they had blocked me off the account.

I think you've misunderstood something and are quoting their company number - the footer on their website states

GB Bank Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority for savings accounts and services (Financial Services Register number: 850286. The Financial Services Register can be accessed at www.fca.org.uk/register). GB Bank is a company registered in England and Wales (company number 10702260) and its registered office is 73 Brook Street, Mayfair, London, England, W1K 4HX.

and this is endorsed by the FCA register entry:

https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=0014G00002TDj0aQAD

jimjames

GB Bank is not an investment as you seem to be suggesting, it's offering savings products so I'm not sure there is any relevance about projects being completed or not. Banks aren't registered with the FSCS, they need to be registered with FCA so it sounds like you've been searching for a different company if you can't find them. All savings products listed by MSE are FCA regulated so not sure what gives the impression that they aren't. GB Bank shows on the FAQs https://www.gbbank.co.uk/faqs

BTW You don't need to pay to view accounts on Companies House, I've been checking some earlier that are freely available.

Personally I've never had any issues with using the MSE Best buy tables.

masonic

PeteThePen1 said:

This leads me to a few questions.

Should MSE be recommending organisations that are not FCA regulated since one's bank is going to baulk at transfering money?

No, and it doesn't. Here is GB Bank's FCA registration: https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=0014G00002TDj0aQAD
You can access its most recent set of accounts here: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10702260/filing-history

Note that although it is loss making, this is irrelevant and common in this sector as it takes a long time to build market share and reach profitability. FSCS protection ensures that if it failed, you'd not lose out.

PeteThePen1 said:

What is the purpose of the BOE's PRA if high street banks do not notice that?

The PRA is the policy-making arm of the regulatory regime and is concerned mainly with regulating financial markets and ensuring firms are operating appropriately

The FCA is focused more on consumer outcomes and puts in place measures to ensure fair treatment of consumers. It is also the main body responsible for authorising financial firms to market products to consumers.

High street banks often get their knickers in a twist when customers try to deal with smaller firms that they've not heard of, because they are on the hook for compensation if they allow a customer to transfer money to a fraudster. Hence they will warn first and let you do the legwork in establishing a firm is legitimate.

PeteThePen1 said:

Does anybody know what the website for checking out organisations taking depositors cash? (I will pop back to the Branch perhaps tomorrow to see what it was)

I would suggest using the FCA register first and foremost, looking for the "Accept deposits" or "Client Money" permissions.

https://register.fca.org.uk

There is also a checker at the FSCS website, at https://www.fscs.org.uk/check/check-your-money-is-protected/ however, this is not as complete as the FCA's data.

PeteThePen1 said:

Atom is app based and has no website presence.  Having just got a new iPad Air we downloaded the App and set about trying to apply.  However the app failed to connect to the company server. We tried this over a couple of days and never got connected.  An email to Atom to ask what was going on produced zero response.  So that looked like a dead loss.

Here is Atom bank's web presence: https://www.atombank.co.uk/ It includes a telephone number for customer support.

Many other forum users have and do use the Atom bank app without issue, so there is probably a technical problem on your side if the app won't connect.

PeteThePen1 said:

Anybody else had all these problems when following up MSE recommendations?

No.

mebu60

Did you initiate a test payment from Santander or were you transferring a larger amount? Note that you have 21 days to deposit the £1k total required for the minimum opening balance. I have made three payments to GB Bank from Santander. They all arrived instantaneously. My test withdrawal was later the same day. 

PeteThePen1

Thanks for the various comments and corrections.  All very welcome.

Yes, I see that I managed to quote the company registration numer not the FCSC sumber - careless!

I am pleased to see that GB Bank is on the FCA list.  What surprises me is that Santander claimed that it was not, and at that time I could not find it (my error!).  I get the feeling that the Santander Security folk are not that well informed.

The website that I think the lady in the local branch of Santander used is:

thebanks dot eu slash banks slash 19415  (For the GB Bank entry)

Thanks for all the help.  Perhaps I should go ahead and shunt my savings up to Wallsend after all.

Regards

P

masonic

Seems very odd for a bank to be using a Spanish market research company run by a single individual over the UK regulator for its information. Maybe you should inform it of the Financial Services Register.