The FCA has proposed a ban and £742,700 fine for a former adviser over unauthorised pension transfer advice.
The regulator said Daniel Thomas ‘recklessly’ gave defined benefit (DB) pension transfer advice he was neither qualified nor allowed to give.
Thomas has referred his decision notice to the Upper Tribunal, where he will present his case.
Any findings in the decision notice are therefore provisional and reflect the FCA’s belief as to what occurred and how it considers his behaviour should be characterised.
The FCA will take no action against Thomas until the Tribunal reaches its decision, which will be published on its website.
Thomas was a director and financial adviser at DPT Financial Solutions Limited. The FCA said over five years he advised 53 clients about 63 transfers out of DB pension schemes, and it believes he earned more than £173,000 in fees.
According to the FCA, Thomas allegedly repeatedly misled clients and pension providers about his professional qualifications, destroyed client records and failed to co-operate with the FCA’s investigation.
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His firm was an appointed representative, and the FCA said it found Thomas provided misleading information to his principal firm about his involvement in the pension transfer cases.
The regulator noted it is not normally in consumers’ best interests to transfer out of DB pensions because they provide valuable, guaranteed benefits which increase annually.
Only those advisers with specialist qualifications and the correct permissions can advise people on whether to transfer out.
Therese Chambers, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “When you advise someone on their pension, you hold their future in your hands. Mr Thomas recklessly betrayed that responsibility.
“We will not stop acting against those ignoring our rules and unfairly putting people and their hard-earned money at risk.”
