The FCA has moved to provisionally halt regulated business at Mayfair-based financial adviser Kingsbridge Capital Advisors Ltd (KCAL) over alleged non payment of FCA fees.
The decision has been appealed by the firm to the Upper Tribunal which will decide if the the suspension should go ahead.
The FCA says the firm (FRN219941) has failed to pay membership fees on multiple occasions since 2019. The total allegedly owed is £2,691.42.
In response the firm has pointed out that it does not hold any client assets and currently has no clients. It has offered to pay the fees when and if new funding is sourced.
According to an FCA Decision Notice this week, the regulator has provisionally cancelled Kingsbridge’s Part 4A permissions which cover its ability to carry on regulated activities. The Decision Notice dates from November but has only now been published by the FCA.
KCAL has been authorised by the FCA since 13 March 2003 and is permitted to conduct designated investment business and MiFiD investment services activities. It is based in offices in Berkeley Square in Mayfair, London W1.
In 2020 the firm was subject to a clone attack in 2020 when scammers tried to copy the firm’s website to con investors. The clone attack resulted in a warning to consumers issued by the FCA.
The FCA’s Decision Notice on the firm’s non-payment of fees published this week said: “(KCAL) has failed to respond appropriately to the Authority’s repeated requests that it pay the fees and levies owed, and is therefore failing to comply with Principle 11 (Relations with regulators), in that it has not been open and co-operative in all its dealings with the Authority.
“(KCAL) has therefore failed to satisfy the Authority that its business is being managed in such a way as to ensure that its affairs will be conducted in a sound and prudent manner or that it is a fit and proper person having regard to all the circumstances; and is therefore failing to satisfy the suitability Threshold Condition in relation to its permitted regulated activities.”
In a response to the FCA, KCAL said it was not a regulatory risk and was close to an investment agreement which would provide new funding and allow it to pay the fees. The firm has pointed out that it does not hold any client assets and has no clients at present.
Kingsbridge has been asked for comment.
