Claims management company Samweb (UK) Limited has been stopped from carrying out regulated activities by the Financial Conduct Authority which has accused it of providing “misleading” information to consumers.
Its current financial promotions are banned by the FCA and it must not go ahead with any further promotions.
The regulator said it had identified several serious concerns around the way that Blackpool-based Samweb operates its business, including the firm’s financial promotions and use of trading names.
It said Samweb appeared to have breached regulatory standards when approving financial promotions about mortgage securitisation claims as, among other failings, it misled customers about the likely success of claims.
It is not the first time the business has been censured by a watchdog for misleading claims. In 2017 the Advertising Standards Authority banned an advert placed by Samweb under the trading name ‘Ease Your Mortgage’ for being misleading.
The ASA said: “We considered that the overall impression created by the ad was that for £260 the advertiser could help a consumer reduce their mortgage by up to 70%. However, we understood that this was not the case and therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.”
The FCA similarly said the company’s financial promotions about mortgage securitisation claims misled customers about the likely success of claims.
It said Samweb also registered the names (or near identical names) of unauthorised entities as trading names of the firm, making it appear that they were authorised to carry on activities for which they have no authorisation.
The watchdog said Samweb must remove all its trading names from the FCA’s register, including companies called Mortgage Claims for Landlords, Camellus Law, Legal Quest, Legal Shield Protect, Mortgage Securitisation Claims and MSC Media & Marketing.
The regulator published its first supervisory notice on the firm in June and the second in September. The restrictions effectively restrict Samweb from carrying on many of its activities.
The FCA said: “The directions and requirements will remain in force unless and until varied or cancelled by the FCA, either on the application of the firm or of the FCA’s own volition.”
Financial Planner Today has contacted Samweb for comment.
In the third quarter of 2022, the FCA amended or withdrew 4,151 financial promotions.
