Two UK advice firms declared in default

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has declared two UK advice firms, Everyday Financial Advice and The TJM Partnership Limited, in default.

Leicestershire-based Everyday Financial Advice, trading as Tudor Court Financial Planning, ceased to be authorised to provide regulated activities and products by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 11 July 2019, according to the FCA register.

The firm had three co-directors, Stacey-Ann McCabe, Michael Moran, and Robert Lallo, with Lallo holding compliance oversight and money laundering reporting roles as well, the FCA register shows.

The FSCS told Professional Adviser it has received one claim from a former customer of Everyday Financial Advice, which is related to pension transfer advice.

The other firm, London-based The TJM Partnership Limited, trading as Quantrend Investment Management and Neovision Global Capital, as well as 12 other trading names, has been in liquidation since 6 January 2022.

The firm was restricted from holding client money and assets by the FCA on 29 November 2012, according to the FCA register. It was also prevented from carrying on the MIFID investment service and activity of placing of financial instruments without a firm commitment basis by the FCA on 14 Jan 2014, according to the FCA register.

The regulator also restricted the firm from taking on new clients and disposing of, withdrawing, transferring, dealing with or diminishing the value of any of its own assets, without the prior written consent of the FCA on 2 December 2021.

It comes after the FCA decided to impose a financial penalty of more than £2m on the firm on 15 July for "inadequate systems and controls to identify and mitigate the risk of being used to facilitate fraudulent trading and money laundering" between 29 January 2014 and 25 November 2015.

In December 2020, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) upheld a claim against the firm associated with pension transfer advice from 2014. It is the only publicly available FOS decision against the firm.

The FSCS told PA it has received ten claims from former customers of The TJM Partnership Limited, all of which were in progress and mostly related to self-invested personal pensions (SIPP).

The client, named Mr B by the ombudsman, claimed the firm gave him unsuitable advice to switch SIPP providers and then invest in high risk, illiquid and unregulated funds.

The ombudsman found in favour of the client, saying: "Overall and on balance, evidence suggests that Mr B was an investor that could and would have been influenced, in November 2014, by suitable and comprehensive regulated investment advice with regards to the switch of SIPP providers and, if such a switch was suitably advised, with regards to the underlying investments in the SIPP.

"I have not seen persuasive evidence to the contrary or to establish that he was either insistent upon the switch and unsuitable investments or was pre-determined in this respect at all costs. The conclusion that follows is that suitable advice from TJM, as treated above, would probably have made a difference and would probably have avoided the enabling of unsuitable contract for difference  trading and unsuitable unregulated investments in his pension arrangements."