FCA publishes Decision Notices against three firms and five individuals for acting without integrity in relation to their pension advice business and misleading the FCA

Andrew Page, Thomas Ward, Aiden Henderson, Robert Ward, Tristan Freer and BHIM have referred their Decision Notices to the Upper Tribunal where the parties will present their respective cases. Any findings in the Decision Notices are therefore provisional and reflect the FCA’s belief as to what occurred and how it considers their behaviour should be characterised.

The Upper Tribunal will determine what, if any, is the appropriate action for the FCA to take, and will remit the matter to the FCA with such directions as the Upper Tribunal considers appropriate to give effect to its determination. The Upper Tribunal's decision will be made public on its website. Accordingly, the proposed action outlined in the Decision Notices will have no effect pending the determination of the case by the Tribunal.

The Decision Notices outline the reasons for the FCA’s decision to take the following disciplinary actions against each of the parties:

Financial Page Ltd (FPL) (in liquidation), Henderson Carter Associates Limited (HCA) (in liquidation) and Bank House Investment Management Limited (BHIM)

The FCA considers that FPL, HCA and BHIM had little meaningful oversight and involvement in the advice provided to customers in their name. They adopted a pension review and advice process which involved outsourcing important functions to unauthorised third parties (Hennessy Jones Limited and City Administration Limited). No allegation of wrongdoing is made against Hennessy Jones Limited and its directors, Mark Stephen and James King, or City Administration Limited in any of the Decision Notices related to the above actions.

HCA, FPL and BHIM held themselves out to customers as providing bespoke independent investment advice based on a comprehensive and fair analysis of the whole market, but that did not reflect the reality of the service that was provided. In reality customers were recommended pension switches and pension transfers to products that invested in high risk, illiquid assets which were unlikely to be suitable for them.

In total, 2,004 customers invested approximately £76 million of their pension assets. As at 29 January 2019, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme has paid compensation of £26.8 million to 1,106 customers of FPL, HCA and BHIM in relation to the above matter and is investigating further claims.

Directors: Andrew Page (FPL), Aiden Henderson (HCA), Robert Ward (BHIM) and Tristan Freer (BHIM)

The directors should have known that the products were unlikely to be suitable for retail customers, except in very limited circumstances, but acted recklessly in closing their minds to the obvious risks. They were all approved persons in a controlled function at their firms and so should have known that by using the pension review and advice process they were acting recklessly.

The directors also acted dishonestly by providing false and/or misleading information to the FCA, in some cases on more than one occasion.

De facto director: Thomas Ward (FPL)

Thomas Ward acted as a director for FPL. He was not approved by the FCA to do so and in his capacity as a de facto director acted without integrity. Mr Ward disregarded the interests of FPL’s customers and showed a willingness to enrich himself at their expense. The FCA considers that Mr Ward also took deliberate steps to control and influence the information that FPL disclosed to the FCA and encouraged Mr Page to withhold important information and deliberately drafted communications that were false and/or misleading.                              

Notes to editors

1. Decision notice – FPL[1]
2. Decision notice – HCA[2]
3. Decision[3] notice – BHIM[3]
4. Decision notice – Aiden Henderson[4]
5. Decision notice – Andrew Page [5]
6. Decision notice – Robert Ward[6]
7. Decision notice – Tristan Freer[7] 
8. Decision notice – Thomas Ward[8]
9. Find out more information about the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chambers) [9]
10. Affected customers should contact the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)[10] on 0800 678 1100. FSCS deals with compensation claims when financial firms go out of business. It is an impartial, free service that was set up by Parliament to protect customers. 
11. Regulating the pensions and retirement income sector: our joint regulatory strategy[11]
12. Find out more information about the FCA[12].