Tracing a financial advisor from 1990

Nick9967

Hi all, long time lurker!  i wondered if anyone could point me in the right direction please, 
short story: i left the military in 1989, in early 1990 i was advised by Advanced Financial Associates Ltd , at the time in the east midlands area , to transfer out of my military pension into a private pension (of what type I'm unsure as I've moved my pot over the years).
I could kick myself now I'm late 50's and pay a lot more attention to my pensions, this was clearly not the right thing for me to have done but at a young age and naive in those days paid too little attention.
I know the company, the year of transfer and the amount transferred   thanks to the archive of the shared services pension team, but cannot trace a history of these advisors anywhere. 
any help appreciated, I'm not even sure there is anything i can do about this now , but will certainly try .

Hoenir

Have you searched on the Companies House website? 

Nick9967

Yes a number of times and the FCA website can't find anything at all 

Silvertabby

This was during the infamous pensions mis-selling scandal, when so-called pensions advisors crawled out of the woodwork with a view to trousering nice commission payments.

Was your case reviewed in the mid/late 1990s?  Or had you already moved your pension to another scheme? 

Marcon

Nick9967 said:

Hi all, long time lurker!  i wondered if anyone could point me in the right direction please, 
short story: i left the military in 1989, in early 1990 i was advised by Advanced Financial Associates Ltd , at the time in the east midlands area , to transfer out of my military pension into a private pension (of what type I'm unsure as I've moved my pot over the years).
I could kick myself now I'm late 50's and pay a lot more attention to my pensions, this was clearly not the right thing for me to have done but at a young age and naive in those days paid too little attention.
I know the company, the year of transfer and the amount transferred   thanks to the archive of the shared services pension team, but cannot trace a history of these advisors anywhere. 
any help appreciated, I'm not even sure there is anything i can do about this now , but will certainly try .

The mis-selling of personal pensions was at its height at the time you transferred, so it's highly likely your transfer would have been reviewed automatically.

I'm afraid it is likely to be far too late now and you will be time barred - waiting 35 years to complain is well and truly outside the usual 6 years you have to complain about poor advice.

Nick9967

As far as I'm aware it was never reviewed at any point, frankly i wouldn't have know to complain even 25 years ago, anytime prior to widespread forums and internet use i would have been none the wiser i don't suppose   

Silvertabby

Probably best to put this behind you, rather than thinking 'what if'.   But there is good news - as you have since transferred your benefits into other schemes, your first pension plan must have been a decent scheme.

Some people transferred into dodgy deals, and lost the lot.

Marcon

I appreciate this isn't going to be any consolation (although it might mean you stop kicking yourself quite so determinedly), but there is no guarantee a complaint from you would have been upheld whenever you made it. The really hardcore mis-selling occurred where people were encouraged to opt out of future active membership of a final salary scheme (and most defined benefit schemes in those days were final salary arrangements), as well as transferring out the benefits they'd already built up.

Where someone like you had a 'deferred' pension, the position was much less clear. The regulator of the day set out the bases on which projections of possible future returns had to be done, and those bases reflected the high interest rates then prevailing. For many people, transferring out genuinely looked like a good idea - and the adviser, of course, egged them on.

Silvertabby

As Marcon says.

Some of the more unscrupulous 'advisors' even targetted serving members of the Armed Forces, even though the AFPS is a notionally non-contributory scheme.

I was in uniform (PSF/pay office) back then, we and knew that we couldn't legally order anyone not to opt out of the APFS - but we could advise.  99% of those who enquired about opting out fell at the first hurdle, on being told that their take-home pay would reduce because they would have to pay full rate NI.

The couple of bolshie boys who thought they knew better didn't get past stage 2 - being a one-to-one interview with our old school Warrant Officer.  Who told them in basic RAF that they were idiots.

But your case was different - your benefits were deferred, so you weren't giving up future accruals.  And many of these 'advisors' were very slick

Put it behind you, and concentrate on what you have rather than might have had.

Nick9967

Thanks all, wise thoughts as ever, you're probably right Silvertabby, i should try and look on the bright side, at least i opted out of SERPS at the same time ( more or less - may have even been the same guy!) and to be fair that formed the base of my current pension pot , and i think i probably dibbed in with that one as my SP looks pretty good alongside the pot! lucky timing! 
so perhaps on to bigger and better things (now do i stay in my drawdown or get a fixed term annuity, 505/50 at the moment )    

dunstonh

I know the company, the year of transfer and the amount transferred   thanks to the archive of the shared services pension team, but cannot trace a history of these advisors anywhere. 

It doesn't matter if you could trace them or not.   The company was a limited company and does not appear on the current register.  Companies House has a 20-year retention.    So, that means it was dissolved over 20 years ago.

Yes a number of times and the FCA website can't find anything at all 

The FCA register goes back to 1st Dec 2001 (which is why many advisers and firms with longer histories show 1st Dec 2001 as their start date).    That means the firm was not regulated at the time the register was created.

As far as I'm aware it was never reviewed at any point, frankly i wouldn't have know to complain even 25 years ago, anytime prior to widespread forums and internet use i would have been none the wiser i don't suppose   

You didn't need to complain.  It was a pro-active review of all pensions sold between two dates.  Firms had to review all sales.   In most cases, it largely involved you being sent a questionnaire and depending on your answers, it would result in further investigations and potential redress or the case being closed as suitable.

With hindsight, transferring out back then was almost certainly the wrong thing to do.  However, hindsight would not be applied.  It was more about whether the right process was used or not.       It is worth noting that the majority of actuaries back then thought it was the right thing to do.    Whereas those same people today with the benefit of hindsight would say it is not.      Investment returns were higher back then, and life expectancy was much shorter.    They measured it on how things were at the time.  Not on how they could be in the future.

History repeated itself about a decade ago with pension transfers picking up as CETV rocketed to all time highs.   The regulator carried out another view and a number of advisers and firms were shut down.  Despite that, the redress payable has been much lower than expected, and the Broadstone DB Redress tracker indicates that the typical complainant is likely to receive no compensation as they are better off.   A failure in process doesn't automatically result in redress.