My response to the Treasury consultation paper on “reforming the Financial Ombudsman Service”
Question 1: Do you agree that, where conduct complained of is in scope of FCA rules, compliance with those rules will mean that the FOS is required to find a firm has acted fairly and reasonably? No or rather the question makes almost no sense. Under the FCA Principles 1 and 2, a failure to […]
Start with three rules for AI and University
Three rules for AI and University This morning, I found myself chatting to Bridget and Francesca, two postgraduate students at my local coffee shop about AI. One told me that half her teachers tell her to use it and the other half prohibit it. AI is not going to disappear any more than internet searching […]
2023 – perhaps the strangest year yet for training
Well, the first quarter was one of the busiest I’ve had since I started doing financial services training in 1996. The second quarter seems certain to have been one of the quietest. With the end of the pandemic, everyone seemed to be saying that they wanted to attend face-to-face courses so as to meet people […]
A values statement?
My most “liked” Linkedin post of all time was the one when I announced my successful completion of my St John’s Ambulance recertification assessment as a first-aider. I posted it for two reasons. First, I dislike intensely reading posts by people telling me how they (not me) have been successful in being invited to speak […]
How financial advisers can stay out of the focused advice trap
Since the Retail Distribution Review put paid to advisers living off product provider commission, many have resorted to taking adviser charges out of pensions in order to earn their remuneration. There is nothing inherently wrong with that and it probably improves their customers’ tax position in most cases. However, there is a trap that I […]
Financial services compliance training – remote v face-to-face at the “end” of the pandemic
Setting the remote scene I have been doing remote compliance training since March 2020. I rather like it as a trainer. At home, the coffee is much better and I don’t have to wear shoes and socks. From a professional point of view, I can dig up examples off my computer broadly on request. I […]
Pension Transfers – oh dear
It is difficult for me to know how to respond to the FCA’s consultation on doing a drains up review of all advice given to transfer from the British Steel Pension Scheme. If an IFA asks my advice about pension transfers from defined benefit schemes, I almost invariably tell them to give up their permission […]
Pension misselling scams- when will they ever end? – Page, Henderson, Freer and Ward X 2
The 308 pages of the Upper Tribunal’s decision in the ghastly references brought by Andrew Page, Aiden Henderson, William Freer, Thomas Ward and Robert Ward hammer home a terrifying message. Sending people to consult an independent financial adviser is not necessarily the right thing to do. These individuals basically diverted huge numbers of people’s pensions […]
The FCA does not need the court’s permission to start enforcement action for breach of the listing rules and market abuse against an insolvent company
Financial Conduct Authority v Carillion Plc [2021] EWHC 2871 (Ch) decides that since enforcement action is not a legal proceeding, the FCA does not need the permission of an insolvency court to proceed against a firm in liquidation. Section 130(2) of the Insolvency Act reads: “When a winding-up order has been made or a provisional […]
The High Court follows FOS’ view on commercial insurance non-disclosure
https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2021/2538.html sees Mr Justice Snowden relying on the ambiguity of Zurich’s questions to reject its attempt to avoid a commercial insurance policy for a failure to make fair presentation or misrepresentation.