Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims
In financial services, fiduciary duty rests with the regulated company that provides products or services to you.
Claiming for Breach of Fiduciary Duty
In financial services, both statutory and fiduciary duties underpin many financial mis-selling claims.
While statutory duties arise from law and regulation, fiduciary duties are created through relationships of trust. They require loyalty, honesty, and acting in the client’s best interests, for example, a trustee to a beneficiary, a financial adviser to a customer, or a director to a company.
When you place your trust in a financial adviser, broker, or specialist, you expect them to act with integrity and put your interests first. If they put their own financial gain ahead of yours, or fail to act with loyalty and care, this may amount to a breach of fiduciary duty.
At Claim My Loss, our team of qualified solicitors has extensive experience handling claims involving breaches of fiduciary duty. We assess whether the person advising you failed to meet the legal and ethical standards expected of them and, if so, identify what losses you can claim for and pursue the compensation you deserve.
Common Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims include:
- Undisclosed conflicts of interest
- Biased or self-serving recommendations
- Unauthorised or high-risk transactions
- Poor stewardship of investments or pensions
- Secret commissions or incentives
Financial professionals may breach their fiduciary duty by:
- Recommending products that benefit them more than you
- Putting their own income above your needs
- Failing to explain the risks or limitations to secure your business
- Misusing their position of trust in financial decisions
- Withholding material facts that could influence your choices
What can you Recover?
The first step is to establish whether a breach occurred; however, it is equally important to understand the financial impact. In most cases, compensation is designed to put you back in the position you would have been in had the breach not taken place, this is known as financial redress.
Possible outcomes include:
- Reversal of financial decisions made in bad faith
- Compensation for negligence or misconduct
- Refunds of fees or associated charges
- In some cases, damages for distress or breach of trust
If you believe your adviser or broker acted in their own interests, not yours, we can help you challenge it.
Breach of Fiduciary Duty FAQs
Who Owes a Fiduciary Duty?
These duties apply to individuals or companies in a position of trust, such as:
- Financial advisers
- Executors or administrators of estates
- Trustees (including pension trustees)
- Mortgage brokers
What Are the Main Fiduciary Duties?
- Duty of loyalty – to always act in the best interests of clients, beneficiaries, or companies.
- Duty to avoid conflicts of interest – to ensure personal interests do not clash with those of the client.
- Duty not to make unauthorised profit – to avoid secret commissions or benefits arising from dealings with the client.
- Duty of confidentiality – to protect sensitive client information.
- Duty to act in good faith – to maintain honesty and integrity in all dealings.
- Duty of care and skill – to exercise reasonable competence expected of their role.
- Duty to act within authority – to operate only within the scope of their legal powers.
Fiduciary duties are stricter than normal contractual duties, as they hold the trusted party to a higher standard of honesty and fairness than statutory obligations.
What are examples of Fiduciary Duty?
In law and business
- Company directors owe fiduciary duties to the company, including avoiding conflicts of interest, not making secret profits, and acting for proper purposes.
- Trustees owe fiduciary duties to the beneficiaries of a trust.
- Partners in a partnership owe duties to one another and to the partnership.
- Solicitors and financial advisers may owe fiduciary duties to their clients, particularly where trust and reliance are central to the relationship.
In family law
- While marriage does not create fiduciary duty in the business-law sense, spouses owe certain statutory obligations to one another, such as financial support.
- On divorce, both parties must make full and frank financial disclosure, a similar concept to fiduciary honesty.
- Trustees of estates owe fiduciary duties to beneficiaries and must act fairly towards all parties involved.
Other contexts
- Executors or administrators of estates owe duties to beneficiaries.
- Agents, such as estate or business agents, owe fiduciary duties to their principals.
What Should I Do If I Suspect a Breach?
These breaches often come to light only after financial losses have occurred and can be difficult for consumers to identify. If something feels wrong about the advice or decisions made on your behalf, our team can review your case and help you explore your options.
Making a Breach of Fiduciary Duty claim
At Claim My Loss, we make it easy to find out if you have a valid claim, and if so, help you pursue compensation.
We have successfully helped over 600 clients gain the
compensation or redress they deserved.
How it Works
If you are concerned your financial adviser, pension, investment, car finance or other financial services product may not have been right for you, then you may be able to make a claim for compensation or redress. The process for making a claim typically involves the following steps:
1. Online Sign Up or Phone Consultation
We know financial claims can be complex and intimidating, so we’re here to help you every step of the way. Use our handy claims calculator or ask our AI assistant any questions you may have. You always have the option to talk to one of our claim experts if you prefer.
2. Getting the Evidence together
Don’t worry if you don’t have all your documentation. As regulated solicitors, we can chase in all the documentation relating to your claim from the providers involved, such as contracts, statements, and communications. All you have to do is appoint us to collect this information on your behalf.
3. Submit your Complaint
We will value your claim and then submit a claim to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or raise a formal complaint to your pension provider, financial adviser, car finance provider or business energy adviser outlining the reasons why we believe you are entitled to compensation or financial redress.
4. Await response
We will provide regular updates and chase your claim through to a final response - you can also check our progress via our online portal. If we are unhappy with the response, we will pursue a claim through the Financial Ombudsman Service or if required escalate your claim to a formal tribunal which means representing you in court.
5. Acceptance of Offer
Once you are satisfied with the level of compensation or financial redress, we will claim the reward and distribute the funds to you via our client account. Claims are often complex and can take time to reach a conclusion. We will always work to achieve the maximum level of compensation or financial redress as quickly as possible.
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