London Capital & Finance plc collapsed into administration in January 2019, leaving approximately 11,625 investors with losses totalling around £237 million. The fallout from that collapse has played out over six years, through an FCA censure, a Serious Fraud Office investigation, a government compensation scheme and ongoing FSCS assessments. If you invested in LCF bonds and have not had your circumstances fully reviewed by a specialist, there may still be options available to you.
LCF was authorised by the FCA (FRN 722603) and used that regulated status in its marketing. The firm sold mini-bonds that were presented to investors as fixed-rate ISA-style products. In reality, these were unregulated investments, and the FCA subsequently censured LCF for the misleading nature of its financial promotions. Many investors had no idea they were taking on unregulated risk.
Because the bonds themselves were not regulated products, the FSCS could initially only pay compensation in cases where LCF had provided what amounts to regulated financial advice. For those clients, the FSCS paid more than £58 million. For the wider group of bondholders who could not access the FSCS under standard rules, the UK government established a separate scheme, which paid out a total of £115 million before closing in October 2022.
However, the story does not end with those schemes. A significant number of LCF investors came to the firm through FCA-regulated financial advisers who recommended the mini-bonds as part of a broader investment portfolio. Where a regulated adviser recommended LCF products without proper suitability assessment, that adviser may bear responsibility for the resulting losses, entirely separately from any FSCS claim against LCF itself.
If you were advised by an IFA or financial planner to invest in LCF bonds, and you have not had that advice independently reviewed, please speak to our team. You should not feel embarrassed about what happened. You trusted a regulated firm and, in many cases, a regulated adviser. The fault lies with them, and there may still be a route to recover some or all of your losses.
Get Help With Your Claim
If you had dealings with London Capital & Finance plc and are worried about your money, please book a free consultation with our team. You may feel embarrassed about what has happened, but you should not. You were let down by people who had a professional and legal duty to act in your best interest. We will carry out all the investigative work on your behalf, at no cost to you. If your claim is not successful, you will not pay a penny. Call us during office hours or email hello@claimmyloss.co.uk – we are here for you.
