The former chief executive of Vector Wealth has been banned from working in financial services after dishonestly selling high-risk bonds through the business, leading to £4m in losses.
Jeffrey Dawkins sold Vector Wealth to a disqualified director in 2019 who wanted to use the firm’s FCA-authorised status to sell mini-bonds. However, Dawkins misled the FCA by stating he was still in charge, but a new CEO was running the firm.
The disqualified director – who was banned from acting as a company director for 12 years in August 2014 – and Kadir Kanizi, a former senior manager at Vector Wealth, promoted the bonds but investors were not properly warned about the risks.
Clients invested £105,000 on average, with one investing £1.1m, and were made to confirm they were high net worth investors before seeing the marketing material.
Dawkins has been fined nearly £270,000 and Kanizi has been banned from senior management roles and £20,000 for failing to ensure consumers were properly warned about the risks. Kanizi should have been fined £80,096 but the FCA reduced the penalty after he demonstrated it would cause serious financial hardship.
Therese Chambers, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “Jeffrey Dawkins acted as a front man for a banned director, helping high-risk investments look safer than they were.
“Mr Dawkins and Mr Kanizi allowed misleading promotions to draw in investors, many of whom now face significant losses. Mini-bonds and similar investments are very high risk, and people should be extremely cautious.”
