The former directors of the financial advisory company TailorMade Independent Limited (Peter Legerton, Lloyd Pope and Robert Shaw) have been suspended from their positions and have been given significant fines by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The authority found that they had failed to fully assess the suitability of investments for clients that were made via self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs). They also failed to make sure that the company both managed and identified any conflicts of interest.
The company actively exposed its clients to investments that were high risk without thinking about if it would meet their needs. Additionally, Mr Legerton, Mr Pope and Mr Shaw all benefitted personally through selling financial products without making their clients aware of the benefits they’d receive. As a result, many of their clients were faced with losing the funds from their pension.
It was found by the FCA that the directors were also shareholders in the unregulated introducer company, TailorMade Alternative Investments, and that they were benefitting financially from this situation – especially as it was referring clients to TailorMade Independent Limited. Because of this, it created a real conflict of interest and this information should have been disclosed to their clients (it wasn’t). The company was also sometimes referred to as TailorMade Financial Services and TailorMade Overseas.
This issue was made worse by the fact that the directors didn’t act when the external compliance consultants issued a warning to TailorMade Independent Limited that the company needed to think about and make clear its conflicts of interest to its clients.
TailorMade Independent Limited advised its clients to transfer the funds from their pension into investments that are unregulated, like farmland, green oil, overseas property, and biofuels via SIPPs. Between the years of 2010 to 2013, there were more than 1,600 clients that put around £112,420,000 into these investments. Many of these weren’t permitted through their existing pension scheme. Greater than half of their clients put money into the Harlequin group, which themselves are being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office.
If a company from the TailorMade Group gave you advice about your pension, then you should have your transaction(s) reviewed and then contact us if you are not happy with what you find and how your investment is performing.
