Derbyshire-based IFA Topps Rogers Financial Management has been fined GBP97,600 by the Financial Services Authority for mis-selling unregulated collective investment schemes (Ucis).
The firm has also had its Part IV permission cancelled, meaning it is no longer directly authorised.
A final notice issued by the FSA said that Topps’ conduct “fell below the standards and requirement of the regulatory system”.
“Specifically, Topps Rogers failed to comply with the Principals and associated FSA Rules in connection with its investment business in the period from May 2004 to June 2010,” says the notice.
The FSA says Topps breached Principal 9 by failing “to take reasonable care to ensure Ucis recommendations were suitable for its clients’. The FSA notice also says that the firm breached Principal 3 relating to management and control, by ‘failing to establish and implement adequate compliance over its business.”
According to the FSA notice, these failures meant that 94 customers who invested over GBP12 million in Ucis, either directly or through a self-invested personal pension plan or wrap, might have received ‘unsuitable advice’.
