WSW Financial Services Ltd trading as WSW Wealth Management, along with its appointed representative (AR) Easy Financial Planning LLP, provided financial advisers that didn’t hold the correct permissions to give advice on the transfer of pensions.
WSW often advised clients that they should transfer their pension but did not then advise on the investments in that pension, as these were unregulated and high risk, in schemes like Harlequin Property, InvestUS and Bamboo.
An Execution-Only Declaration
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) reviewed several complaints and found the company had advised its clients not to transfer on most occasions but then handled the transfer after their clients signed an execution-only declaration. This process was deemed to be flawed by the FOS as the company was essentially misinterpreting the regulatory regulations and rules.
FOS said that the main issue was that the advice the company had given was only paid for upon the completion of the transfer. This clearly demonstrated that there was a conflict of interest and the company was failing to act in the best interest of its clients. It also became apparent that WSW had previously queried the process with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and was informed that they faced a moral dilemma in performing business that wasn’t in the best interest of their clients. Despite this, the company still continued with the practice anyway.
Claim For Compensation
Many former clients of WSW were referred from one of several companies, including Smith Osborne Associates Limited, Spectrum Financial Services, and Your Mortgage Solutions Ltd.
After being ordered to pay compensation to many of its clients, WSW was forced to go into liquidation. If you are someone who had dealings with the company or with Easy Financial Planning LLP and invested in either a family pension trust or a self-invested personal pension (SIPP), then you should have your case reviewed as you may be able to claim compensation.
Call us now for a phone or video consultation with one of our legal experts on 0800 041 8358 to find out if you are entitled to compensation, you may even be entitled to additional compensation if you have successfully claimed in the past.
