The FCA has imposed restrictions on a financial adviser firm based in South Wales to prevent it from making unsolicited offers of £50 in redress to BSPS members.
The watchdog says it is the third time it has acted against firms making unsolicited offers of redress.
The FCA says it is taking action against David Stock & Co Limited, of Newport, Gwent, (FRN 121754) to stop it seeking to avoid liabilities under the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) redress scheme.
The firm is believed to have made unsolicited offers of £50 to 48% of its clients who had been BSPS members and had not yet complained.
The FCA said it was concerned that these “unsolicited settlement offers” were not calculated in line with its guidance and were a deliberate attempt to exclude former BSPS members from the redress scheme.
The FCA restriction imposed on the firm means that consumers who accepted the unsolicited offers must be treated in the same way as those who did not.
The FCA said this will ensure all eligible David Stock & Co customers receive the redress they are entitled to.
Under the scheme, firms must review the advice they gave and pay redress to those who lost money because the advice was unsuitable.
The aim of the redress is to put people back in the financial position they would have been in at retirement had they stayed in the BSPS.
David Stock & Co is the third advice firm to be warned about its conduct.
The FCA has also published a Dear CEO letter today to raise its concerns to firms that have calculated redress using third party actuarial providers online portals, without any actuarial oversight, prior to the redress scheme commencing. This appears to have been a contributing factor to the misleading redress offers.
The FCA said in a statement today: “Where firms have calculated redress for former BSPS members using third party services, they should review those offers, even where they have been accepted on a full and final basis, and notify us. In the Dear CEO letter, we set out our expectations for firms to use our calculator for all BSPS cases.
“We will not tolerate any attempt from firms to exclude former BSPS members from the redress scheme and we will take further action to put a stop to it as needed.”
