Tag: Leonteq

OLD MUTUAL INTERNATIONAL V LEONTEQ CASE MOVED TO LONDON

Old Mutual International filed a High Court application on 16^th March 2018.

On 20.3.18, Old Mutual obtained a judgment in the High Court of Justice of the Isle of Man (Case Reference 18/0012). His Honour The Deemster Doyle, First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls delivered his determination to OMI’s lawyer, Elizabeth Simpson of Simcocks.

But now Leonteq has been successful in having the proceedings transferred from the IoM to London. This will considerably help Leonteq and hinder OMI.

OMI’s case is that they are the victims of a fraud. Between 2012 and 2016, OMI invested approximately £200,000,000 in structured notes sold by Leonteq. The purchase of these notes was “conducted” on the truthfulness of representations made by Leonteq as to the amount of fees and costs to be deducted from the investments. OMI’s case is that what Leonteq claimed was false and fraudulent. The investments performed poorly as a result of the excessive level of fees. The losses are currently estimated to be well over £20,000,000 (although it is expected that this will increase – especially with the current devasting share price falls due to Covid 19).

OMI’s case against Leonteq is on the basis of fraudulent misrepresentation, conspiracy, constructive trust, breach of fiduciary duty, knowing receipt, dishonest assistance and unjust enrichment.

Let us look in some detail at the above aspects of the case.

Leonteq Securities has gone from strength to strength since this fraud began – despite the disgrace of this criminal matter. Their net profit in the first half of 2018 was declared as £30.73 million, and turnover £104.31 million – up 36% on the previous year. My first question is: are they still selling ultra high-risk structured notes? My second question is: what was the difference between the “ordinary” notes which paid 6% commission to the scammers, and the fraudulent notes which paid 8% to the scammers. Were the latter 33% more risky? Looking at the victims’ statements, it is impossible to tell the difference between the 6% notes and the 8% ones. There is no obvious higher failure rate – they just all look equally dire.

Right in the middle of the OMI/Leonteq matter, it was announced in 2014 that two salesmen were going to be added to the London branch: Walter Treur and Anders Stromberg joined on 25/27 June 2014. Treur was ex Commerzbank – another provider of toxic structured notes which also failed dismally and caused catastrophic losses to the Continental Wealth Management’s victims – and Stromberg was ex JP Morgan and Credit Suisse (although he had been unemployed for some time).

Another Leonteq employee, Michael Hartweg, left his job as deputy chief executive to spend all his time flogging the new business of toxic structured notes.

So, it is clear that Leonteq was making a lot of money out of these products. But, the question remains: was Leonteq complicit in fraud – or were they blissfully ignorant and just grateful for the huge profits they were pulling in?

In my humble view, structured notes are like a lot of other products which – if properly sold and used – can, in some cases, be beneficial/useful/enjoyable/harmless, but – if irresponsibly or inappropriately sold – can be deadly. Examples are: tobacco; alcohol; pornography; rat poison; fireworks; painkillers; kitchen knives; peanuts; plastic bags; cannabis.

Structured notes are “FOR PROFESSIONAL INVESTORS ONLY AND NOT FOR RETAIL DISTRIBUTION AND WARN OF DANGER OF LOSING PART OR ALL OF AN INVESTOR’S CAPITAL”.

I wonder which bit of that OMI failed to understand. They bought £200 million quid’s worth of the fraudulent 8% notes – how much of the 6% ones did they buy? We know that a large chunk of these went to the Continental Wealth victims and caused devastating losses. But that was just Leonteq – there was also Commerzbank, Royal Bank of Canada, Nomura and BNP Paribas. And there wasn’t just OMI – there was SEB and Generali doing the same thing.

Let’s be honest, the whole thing was a fraud. In the Continental Wealth Management case, CWM was a fraud; the structured notes were a fraud; the insurance bonds were a fraud; the hidden commissions on everything were a fraud. No party comes out of this with any honour. But, we must also bear in mind that OMI bought £200,000,000 of this toxic, fraudulent crap and allowed it to be used as investments for retail, low-risk pension savers. Additionally, OMI accepted dealing instructions from an unregulated firm which was selling the insurance bonds illegally. But let us not forget that Generali and SEB were just as bad.

Maybe Leonteq and OMI will volunteer to settle without a bloody legal battle – from which only the blood-sucking lawyers will win. The millions that both Leonteq and OMI will be paying over the coming months and years would be better spent on paying redress to the real victims in this disgraceful debacle – the Continental Wealth Management clients who entrusted their life savings to the scammers, the life offices and the structured note providers such as Leonteq – but let’s not forget Commerzbank, Royal Bank of Canada and Nomura.

July 21, 2018
SEB LIFE (OR DEATH) – WILL THE CENTRAL BANK OF IRELAND BRING THEM TO JUSTICE?

One of the hundreds of Continental Wealth Management victims stuck in a useless and expensive SEB Life International bond, and ruined by crippling investment losses, has made a detailed complaint to SEB.

Some idiot from SEB called Orla Golden has replied – and the response is astonishing. Below are my answers to this ridiculous rebuttal. The complaint will now be referred to the Central Bank of Ireland – asking that SEB Life should be suspended. I will also copy this in to the Financial Services Ombudsman.

Let us see whether the regulator and ombudsman in Ireland will turn out to be as useless as the regulator in Gibraltar, or will actually have some teeth. If the authorities in Ireland are any good, hopefully they will hold Conor McCarthy and Peder Nateus fully responsible for facilitating this deplorable scam.

LETTER FROM ORLA GOLDEN TO THE CWM/SEB VICTIM IN RESPONSE TO HIS COMPLAINT (WITH MY COMMENTS IN BOLD):

We are writing to you in response to your recently submitted complaint in respect of your insurance policy with SEB Life International Assurance Company DAC that you placed through your appointed independent financial advisor, Inter-Alliance WorldNet Insurance Agents and Advisors Ltd.

The victims did not place any orders or instructions through Inter-Alliance. SEB is being not only disingenuous but dishonest here. The advisor in question was Continental Wealth Trust SL, trading as Continental Wealth Management SL (CWM) in Alicante Province, Spain. CWM was a firm full of unqualified so-called “advisers” with a track record of scamming, cold-calling and flogging dodgy products to unsuspecting victims. The victims appointed CWM as their advisers, and all the dealing instructions for the toxic structured notes came from CWM and not Inter-Alliance.

SEB Life is a designated activity company which is registered under company number 218391 with the Irish Companies Registration Office and is authorised as a life insurance undertaking by the Central Bank of Ireland under number C771.

So, let’s see just how good a regulator the Central Bank of Ireland really is. We must all hope it is not as hopeless, limp and corrupt as some of the other regulators.

SEB Life is permitted to distribute life insurance policies in Europe (EU) by way of a freedom of services passport issued by the Central Bank of Ireland under the Solvency II Directive 2009/138/EC as adopted into Irish law by the European Communities (Insurance and Reinsurance) Regulations 2015 (the “Solvency II Irish Regulations”). That may be true, but these weren’t true life insurance policies: they were bogus policies designed to act as “wrappers” for dodgy, rubbish investments and to facilitate financial crime in multiple European jurisdictions – most notably Spain where such insurance/investment products have been outlawed by the Spanish Supreme Court.

In January 2015, Inter-Alliance novated its business to Trafalgar International GmbH who became your financial advisor.

Not true. Trafalgar International did not become the financial adviser. Few, if any, of the victims had ever heard of Trafalgar until CWM collapsed in September 2017.

Trafalgar is an independent financial advisor located in Germany

No it isn’t – it is located in Cyprus. Orla Golden clearly has never done Geography.

and is authorised and entered into the register of insurance intermediaries maintained by the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK). Trafalgar is authorised to mediate insurance policies in various EU territories including UK, Spain, Malta and France. Yes, Trafalgar was. But CWM wasn’t.

SEB Life has terms of business with Trafalgar, and previously had terms of business with Inter-Alliance which was authorised by the Insurance Companies Control Service in Cyprus to mediate insurance policies in the EU; before it transferred to Trafalgar. Continental Wealth Management (CWM) was a sub agent of Inter-Alliance

Really? Sub agents are illegal in Spain

and then continued to be a sub-agent of Trafalgar.

No it did not. SEB is lying. CWM was never a sub agent of Trafalgar

CWM is the responsibility of Trafalgar and SEB Life does not have terms of business with them.

So why did SEB accept dealing instructions from CWM if they had no terms of business with the firm?

SEB Life regularly reviews the authorisation of independent financial advisors with whom they have terms of business,

SEB is failing to get its story straight. CWM was not authorised – ever, for anything. SEB may have had terms of business with both Inter-Alliance and Trafalgar, but CWM was never an authorised agent of either firm.

however, it is the independent advisor’s responsibility to comply with their own regulatory obligations for authorisation

And nothing to do with SEB? So, why did SEB accept dealing instructions from CWM?

and their regulatory authorities have oversight responsibilities.

Like the Central Bank of Ireland has oversight responsibilities over SEB? Let’s see how seriously it takes those responsibilities.

Trafalgar, as the appointed independent financial advisor is your agent.

No it isn’t, and wasn’t. Trafalgar was not an IFA firm, it was a network.

Any policy related intermediary commission was paid directly to Trafalgar (formerly Inter-Alliance), with whom SEB Life has terms of business.

So why was SEB paying intermediary commission at all to CWM which was not regulated at all for anything – not pet insurance, not bicycle insurance, nothing. It matters not to whom the commission was paid, the products were sold by an unregulated firm (CWM) and SEB should never have accepted the business – let alone ever paid commission (irrespective of to whom this commission was paid).

As your agent, Trafalgar must handle your complaint in accordance with their agent and regulatory responsibilities.

Trafalgar was never the victims’ agent.

In addition, the pre-sales advising process occurs between you as the policyholder and your appointed agent.

Trafalgar was never the appointed agent. Trafalgar did not provide the advice; Trafalgar did not place the dealing instructions; Trafalgar did not meet the clients.

This process identifies the customer’s needs, based on the information provided by the policyholder(s)

How would SEB know? Did they ever check the fact finds or make any attempt to ascertain the victims’ attitude to risk? No, of course they didn’t

and recommends the insurance product which best suits the customer’s objectives and needs.

This is a ludicrous comment to make. Not one single victim needed a bogus life assurance product – they were all, 100% mis-sold purely for the fat commissions paid by SEB.

SEB Life is not party to this pre-sales advising process and the discussions that occur between a policyholder and their appointed independent financial adviser as to their risk profile and the assets that will fulfill the investment needs and objectives.

Correct. But SEB ought to have noticed, over a period of several consecutive years, the inexorable losses from the toxic structured notes which repeatedly failed – and the dealing instructions for which (submitted by CWM and accepted by SEB) bore forged client signatures. SEB may not have been party to the pre-scamming advice con, but they should certainly have taken action when the results of this clear fraud started to become obvious.

SEB Life does not offer any investment advice, and this is clearly stated in the declaration section of the application form that we ensure is signed by the customer.

And damn good job too. Most victims would probably trust a convicted thief rather than SEB. The declaration section of the application form may make it clear that SEB does not offer investment advice, but the annual statements also make it clear that SEB can do maths. And that basic maths demonstrated that hundreds of policyholders’ funds were being routinely destroyed.

Our literature states that the amounts invested in the Units of the Fund in the contract are not guaranteed but are subject to fluctuations in value depending, in particular, on the performance of financial markets.

There is fluctuation, and then there is total destruction. Fluctuation goes up and down. Destruction just goes down. Did not a single half-wit at SEB notice the difference over a period of seven years?

The return on investment is not in SEB Life’s control and past performance is not an indicator of the future performance of any asset.

So, if Bloodstone Building in Dublin caught fire, would the blind, deaf and dumb idiots at SEB just sit there, shrug their shoulders and say “a fire in the building is not within our control – we aren’t firefighters. And we won’t even bother using the fire extinguishers or calling the fire brigade. We’ll just sit here and watch the building get destroyed and burn to death ourselves?”

SEB also request that a one-page “Statement of Understanding” is signed by a policyholder where an investment request is received in relation to a non-standard asset.

Really? Who told Orla Golden that? The Statement of Understanding Fairy? This simply is not true.

This is to confirm that the policyholder has read and understood the potential financial, market and liquidity risks associated with the asset before proceeding.

None of the victims understood the assets which SEB was permitting the scammers at CWM to churn; none of the victims realised or understood what structured notes; none of the victims knew that structured notes were for professional investors only and not for retail investors; none of the victims knew that they stood to lose part or all of their investment (as most did); none of the victims realised that SEB would just sit there and let the repeated losses keep happening as the unlicensed, unqualified scammers at CWM kept scamming away for seven years.

Policyholders are able to request that their policy be linked to assets that are within the company’s permissible asset list. The investments have been executed by SEB Life on the basis of written instructions submitted to SEB Life that were signed by you as the policyholder

No they weren’t – the signatures were forged

or your appointed investment advisor.

Meaning the unqualified, unlicensed scammers at CWM who did not have an investment license – let alone an insurance license.

SEB Life relief upon and implemented those instructions in good faith and in accordance with the terms and conditions of the policy.

There was nothing good about SEB’s “faith”. This particular victim – whose complaint has not been upheld by SEB – suffered the following losses between 2009 and 2015:

12 toxic, professional-investor-only structured notes from Nomura, RBC, Commerzbank, Leonteq and BNP Paribas:

Lost a total of 271,539 EUR

Investment in the Quadris Teak UCIS fund:

Lost 100,000 GBP

TOTAL LOSS IN SIX YEARS: 371,539 EUR

Didn’t SEB notice? Didn’t SEB care? Didn’t SEB do anything for seven years?

The answer, of course, is a resounding no. The lazy, callous, greedy, negligent did nothing except sit there and watch this victim’s life savings be destroyed by the scammers.

With regard to your allegations of regulatory breaches and fraud committed on your policy, SEB Life is unable to comment on such allegations and these must be discussed with your appointed financial advisor Trafalgar directly.

I have no doubt that SEB’s lawyers will have advised them to keep their mouths shut on this one and to try to deflect the blame onto Trafalgar. This is one of the things I hate about lawyers – even when they know their dirty clients are guilty they will still defend them to the hilt. As long as they keep billing, the lawyers won’t care how many lives their negligent and culpable clients ruin.

In these circumstances, you may wish to seek independent financial advice

I wonder what sort of “adviser” SEB have in mind? Scammers like CWM?

and/or legal advice regarding your engagements with your appointed financial adviser.

And I wonder what sort of law firm SEB would recommend? A dodgy firm like SEB’s own lawyers who are happy to make money out of defending the indefensible?

July 12, 2018
Old Mutual International (OMI) facilitating financial crime

From 2010 up to the present day, Old Mutual International has been facilitating financial crime by allowing scammers to misuse and abuse OMI “life bonds” to scam victims out of their life savings.

The victims of the CWM scam are still wondering how the hell they lost an average of 60% of their life savings. Old Mutual International (Quilter) was the provider for the bulk of the life bonds used in the CWM debacle, taking huge amounts of business from unregulated scammers Continental Wealth Management. OMI also paid CWM huge amounts of commission – in the full knowledge that CWM was unregulated and a known, serial scammer.

Pension Life members of the CWM victim group have supplied their figures to us. The losses are huge and we believe that these figures need to be shared with the public so Old Mutual International (OMI) understand and take responsibility for the devastation they have facilitated to the lives of the victims.

Let us hope that Old Mutual International will step up to the plate. The people who work at OMI are human beings, with loved ones. Hopefully, they can imagine how they would feel if this tragedy had happened to one of their loved ones – while the people at OMI stood by and did nothing to stop the devastation. For more than eight years, OMI employees sat on their hands while the so-called investments inside their “insurance bonds” plummeted in value. And OMI did absolutely nothing. Just kept taking their quarterly fees.

OMI will, of course, try to say it was not their fault. That it was down to the advisers appointed by the victims. Or the trustees. Or both. Or the Boogeyman. OMI will claim that they had every right to sit there and watch millions of pounds worth of life savings being wiped off investors’ funds, while continuing to take out their huge quarterly fees.

I wonder how OMI/Quilter directors would feel if this happened to one of their loved ones. Or if someone they cared about had been drowning, and a crowd of people had stood by and watched them die. Because, make no mistake, there will be deaths as a result of this. And the people at OMI will have this on their conscience for the rest of their lives.

OMI’s victims have died. And more are dying. This industry is about people. Let us see if OMI cares about their fellow human beings. Because, so far, there is zero evidence that they give a toss.

May 23, 2018
Keep Calm: Just avoid OMI/Quilter

OLD MUTUAL INTERNATIONAL HYPOCRISY OVER NEW MALTA REGULATIONS

OMI’s Peter Kenny advises the industry to “keep calm”.

He obviously wants to be able to keep flogging these useless, pointless and exorbitantly expensive insurance bonds to thousands of innocent victims.

With the announcement of new regulations in Malta for QROPS, International Adviser has quoted managing director of OMI (soon to be Quilter) Peter Kenny: “Old Mutual International is encouraging all market participants to help rid the industry of inappropriate structured products“.

Kenny´s statement, to the untrained eye, may seem logical and thoughtful. However, here at Pension Life we are well educated about OMI´s dirty laundry and routine use of toxic structured notes.

The statement Peter Kenny made is downright hypocritical. He is clouding the irresponsible and negligent actions OMI have made in the past, and the damage the high-risk structured products have inflicted on pension funds. Kenny hasn´t even mentioned the huge quarterly fees OMI have applied to ever-dwindling pension funds.

These fees are OMI´s way of clawing back the commissions paid to the scammers. And this is why victims are tied into these insurance bonds for so many years, and why there are such enormous penalties for exiting the bonds.

Kenny told International Adviser:

“The Malta Financial Services Authority’s proposed new regulations are sensible, appropriate measures to be taking.

Specifically, we welcome greater restrictions on structured notes. Old Mutual International is encouraging all market participants to help rid the industry of inappropriate structured products which are having a damaging impact on investor confidence and outcomes.

Over the years, Old Mutual International has taken action to tighten its criteria, introduced a maximum fee level, and in some cases banned certain types of structured products from certain institutions.

Not all structured products are bad, and they can be useful for clients who want a degree of capital protection whilst also providing exposure to investment markets or a fixed return. However, many structured products are often very complex in design. Regrettably, some investors and advisers will not always possess the depth of knowledge required to fully understand the risks and rewards associated with investing in such structured products.”

Doesn´t that sound lovely in theory! However, I´m sure the victims of the CWM pension scam would not agree.

“Specifically, we welcome greater restrictions on structured notes. Old Mutual International is encouraging all market participants to help rid the industry of inappropriate structured products which are having a damaging impact on investor confidence and outcomes.”

For the last eight years at least, OMI have allowed the use of structured notes. We have seen many examples of victims having 100% of their portfolios invested in structured notes – including the fraudulent Leonteq ones. We have the hundreds of victims of the CWM pension scandal as evidence of this.

Peter Kenny must surely be aware that OMI were happy to invest the life savings of the CWM victims into structured products which clearly stated at the top of the investment sheets (so as even the most short-sighted OMI employee could not miss it):

HIGH-RISK AND FOR PROFESSIONAL INVESTORS ONLY

Here at Pension Life, we do hope that even trainees at OMI are aware that pension fund members are retail investors and should be placed into low to medium risk, liquid investments. However, it seems that these details obviously don´t feature in OMI´s training manual.

Structured products are illiquid and they often lock the fund in for fixed terms – up to 5 years. Added to this is the fact that victims were also locked into ten or eleven-year term OMI´s life assurance policies. It is absolutely ridiculous to lock people into a product which does nothing to protect the funds and only serves to erode the value of the funds with the exorbitant quarterly charges which inexorably “drag” the fund down.

“Over the years, Old Mutual International has taken action to tighten its criteria, introduced a maximum fee level, and in some cases banned certain types of structured products from certain institutions.”

This is an outright lie and we have hard evidence that even in the past couple of years, OMI has done nothing to tighten its criteria in any of the CWM cases. In fact, OMI were still accepting fraudulent Leonteq structured notes up until very recently. Peter Kenny is being dishonest as the reality is that there was no thought or care at all over a very long period.

One Pension Life member started with a fund of £38,000. His last valuation showed that it was now worth just £800. When OMI apply their next quarterly fee, the entire fund will be wiped out as OMI simply kept taking their fees based on 11% of the original value (as opposed to the constantly dropping value). But clearly OMI didn’t care or even show any interest – they made a packet in fees, paid a huge commission to the CWM scammers and sat back and did nothing while the fund dwindled to nothing.

“Not all structured products are bad, and they can be useful for clients who want a degree of capital protection…”

I highlight here a “degree of capital protection” – just a degree? Pension funds are normally a person’s life savings. So what does a “degree” mean? 10%, 50% perhaps 75%? The degree of capital protection in the case of the CWM/OMI scam was 0%.

“Regrettably, some investors and advisers will not always possess the depth of knowledge required to fully understand the risks and rewards associated with investing in such structured products.”

Regrettably for the investors who were victims of the CWM scammers and OMI, they most definitely did not possess the depth of knowledge required to fully understand the risks. They put their faith in the smartly- dressed scammers. With promises of high returns, the high risk of the investments and high fees to be charged were left unmentioned. OMI were supposed to protect the victims’ interests but failed dismally to lift a finger to help arrest the downward spiral of the funds.

OMI just sat there like a lazy, greedy, callous parasite and watched the victims’ retirement savings dwindle.

Malta´s new regulations have been put into place to protect investors from scammers like CWM and firms like OMI. I think OMI are secretly seething as the changes to the regulations will surely affect their already dropping profits.

International Adviser also reported on 30 Apr 18:

“Quilter, formerly Old Mutual Wealth, said its assets under management and administration had fallen in the first quarter of 2018.”

Here´s hoping they fall further – much further – 2/3rds further like Pension Life members Pete and Val´s did. Peter Kenny needs to experience a taste of how the victims of the CWM scam felt at finally receiving the news that their pension funds had been left in tatters.

May 10, 2018
SEB – DESTROYING LIFE SAVINGS
SEB – DESTROYING LIFE SAVINGS – accepting business and investment instructions from unlicensed scammers.

SEB Life International Assurance offers so-called life assurance policies to expats living in Spain. SEB claim that their policies are straightforward and help investors to construct investment portfolios specifically to individual needs. The truth is, life assurance policies with SEB destroy life savings.

In reality, SEB – along with many other life offices – merely serves to facilitate financial crime. In the case of victim Dave, SEB accepted investment instructions from a known firm of unlicensed scammers: Continental Wealth Management. SEB allowed them to invest 100% of Dave’s retirement portfolio in toxic structured notes which resulted in him losing nearly two thirds of his life savings.

SEB – DESTROYING LIFE SAVINGS: Dave, resident in Spain, transferred his pension fund to a QROPS in December of 2012. The scammers put him into an SEB “bond” which was supposedly “Spanish compliant”. Continental Wealth then invested £160,000 into one high-risk, professional-investor-only structured note and kept £7,000 in cash for SEB’s fees – basically a claw-back of the commission paid to the scammers.

In December 2015 Dave was sent his annual policy valuation by SEB. The opening policy value was just over £90,000 – £60,000 LESS than the original value three years earlier. A year later, the fund was worth just under £55,000. Two thirds of Dave’s pension pot had dribbled out from bad investments and high policy charges – thanks to SEB letting the scammers play fast and loose with the money.

Despite these crippling losses, SEB continued to charging their quarterly policy fees.

In 2013 and 2016 SEB wrote to Dave, informing him that he did not have a “nominated asset” to keep his cash balance positive – so that SEB could keep taking their own fees while they sat and watched Dave’s funds being destroyed by the scammers. This entailed Dave’s fund suffering a further loss as an early redemption of structured notes inevitably results in a loss.

The SEB website claims:
- “Commitment to outstanding client servicing” If sitting back like a lazy parasite and watching a client’s life savings lose 2/3 of its value is “outstanding” we hate to think what “bad” client servicing is.
- “Highly secure and reputable company with sound financial backing” We are glad to hear SEB has financial backing – it is going to need it to pay redress to Dave and all the other victims whose pensions were destroyed by scammers. This will be the real test of whether SEB is “highly secure and reputable”.
- “Competitive products” We would not consider high-risk structured notes to be “competitive” in any way – they are totally unsuitable for pensions. SEB should have known this and should not have allowed the victims’ life savings to be invested in such toxic products.
- “SEB Life International aims to provide superior long-term investment performance and a broad range of products to suit complex investment needs. So, whatever your investment needs, managing a sophisticated portfolio or simply saving for the future – you’ll find solutions here.” In Dave’s case, there was NO superior long-term investment performance. Just massive losses through investing his hard earned cash into toxic, high-risk structured notes which were clearly labeled “for professional investors only”.
Dave can certainly vouch for the fact that in his case, the only outstanding client service SEB delivered was the guarantee of taking their quarterly fees – and even causing him further losses to keep sufficient cash in the portfolio so they could help themselves to his money.

SEB’s website also claims that the only investments they will accept are:

• SEB Life International internal Unit-Linked Funds (including Internal and Select List Funds and Standard
Profiles)
• Undertakings for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities (UCITS)
• Retail Authorised EU based Collective Investment Schemes1
• Cash and Fixed Deposits
The policyholder may only switch from among the different groups of assets detailed above.

Structured Notes will not be accepted.

So, in addition to facilitating financial crime and paying known scammers huge commissions to destroy victims’ life savings, SEB Life International are outright liars. Dave, along with hundreds of other victims, had their retirement funds invested in structured notes provided by Commerzbank, RBC, Nomura and the fraudsters at Leonteq.
May 8, 2018
OMI SUES LEONTEQ over undisclosed commissions

A fine journalist at International Investment reports that Old Mutual International is taking legal action against Leonteq. She reports that this action is being taken on the basis that Leonteq lied about commissions paid to advisers for using high-risk structured notes.

This news is, of course, very welcome news – especially if it succeeds in securing redress for the “significant financial losses” for the Continental Wealth Management victims. OMI has stated:

“Had the true level of commission been disclosed, the high-risk structured notes would not have passed Old Mutual International’s (OMI) criteria, and no investments would have been made”.

OMI has mentioned the “true level of commission”. What it is referring to is the fact that for some particularly toxic notes, the commission paid to the scammers was 8% instead of 6%. The victims ultimately pay this commission – which is always hidden from them – but in reality the difference between 8% and 6% pales into insignificance when compared to the actual losses themselves.

Leonteq’s high-risk structured notes had been failing and causing crippling losses for years. Just as RBC’s, Commerzbank’s and Nomura’s had also done. One victim saw his £38,000 pension pot dwindle down to £800 since 2015.

The truth of the matter is the none of the victims should have had any of their retirement savings invested in high-risk structured notes which clearly state on the term sheets:

FOR PROFESSIONAL INVESTORS ONLY

Continental Wealth Management – an unlicensed firm of scammers – bought more and more structured notes. CWM was not licensed for either insurance or investment advice.

But this raises an important question:

Why aren’t SEB and Generali suing Leonteq?

The SEB and Generali victims suffered very similar crippling losses to OMI’s. What are they doing about this fiasco? What would their “criteria” have done to intervene had they realised Leonteq was paying the scammers 8% instead of 6%?

Apparently, Leonteq is now disclosing commissions on the term sheets for their products. Great. Problem is that the victims never get to see the term sheets – or at least not until it is way too late and they have lost half of their life savings. Having had access to a Leonteq termsheet which clearly states:

This Product may only be sold to qualified investors (the term “qualified investor” has the meaning as defined in Section 10 of the Swiss Federal Act on Collective Investment Schemes “CISA”).

and

Given the complexity of the terms and conditions of this Product an investment is suitable only for experienced Investors who understand and are in a position to evaluate the risks associated with it.

But even if the victims had seen these warning and the fact that they were paying 6% or 8% – on high-risk structured notes – to have their fund systematically destroyed, what could these people have done about it? Because, at the end of the day, the client is not the client (apparently). The client is the life office. OMI, SEB and Generali are the legal owners of these dodgy structured notes. Or perhaps the trustee is the legal owner? Depends on who you ask and why – the answer is always different.

Fortunately for OMI clients – the MD of OMI – Peter Kenny – has said the company is “taking a firm stand against the behavior which has led to such devastating consequences”.

Kenny goes on to say that OMI “will do all that we can to bring to account those responsible.” And is “encouraging all market participants to help rid the industry of inappropriate structured products, which are having a damaging impact on investor confidence and outcomes”.

The International Investment journalist ends her article with Kenny’s parting comment:

“I would encourage all industry participants to work together to eradicate poor practices once and for all.”

For some, however, the damage has already been done.

A life’s worth of savings has already been destroyed.

******************************************

As always, Pension Life would like to remind you that if you are planning to transfer any pension funds, make sure that you are transferring into a legitimate scheme. To find out how to avoid being scammed, please see our blog:

What is a pension scam?

FOLLOW PENSION LIFE ON TWITTER TO KEEP UP WITH ALL THINGS PENSION RELATED, GOOD AND BAD.

April 12, 2018
DEMAND FOR LEONTEQ’S AWARDS TO BE WITHDRAWN BY SWISS DERIVATIVES AWARDS

DEMAND FOR LEONTEQ’S

SWISS DERIVATIVES

AWARDS TO BE WITHDRAWN

alex.geissbuehler@gwp.ch, reto.weber@gwp.ch, stephan.welti@gwp.ch, pia.aeberhard@gwp.ch, admira.besic@gwp.ch, regine.wolfensberger@gwp.ch, media@leonteq.com , info@payoff.ch

(Interesting use of the phrase “pay off” in the awards organisers’ email address above – I wonder who got paid off to make this disgusting award.)

DEMAND FOR LEONTEQ’S SWISS DERIVATIVES AWARDS TO BE WITHDRAWN

On behalf of hundreds of victims of the Continental Wealth Management pension and investment scam – many of whom have lost huge proportions of their retirement savings – I hereby demand that the awards given to Leonteq at the Swiss Derivative Awards 2018 should be withdrawn immediately.

It is a sickening afront to decency that this award was ever given in the first place. The judges must surely have known that Leonteq had facilitated a major, multi-million-pound scam with Continental Wealth Management between 2010 and 2016. Leonteq has had the audacity to brag that “the awards are proof that Leonteq has a dedicated, strong and highly service oriented team in place. We are very proud of the recognition of our work, and would like to sincerely thank our clients and partners for their trust”.

Leonteq is “proud” of the destruction it has wrought on hundreds of people’s pensions and investments?

Leonteq has paid not a penny in compensation to its many victims – many of whom will die from stress-related illnesses due to the losses suffered from Leonteq’s toxic, high-risk structured notes. Leonteq was paying unlicensed scammers Continental Wealth Management commissions of between 6% and 8% to peddle these risky notes – which amount to nothing more than gambling. None of these notes were suitable for low-risk pension savers as the documentation clearly stated that there was a danger that investors could lose part or all of their capital.

To reward Leonteq for such behaviour, for facilitating a £200 million investment scam, and ruining many hundreds of victims, is a disgrace. This abomination brings shame upon Switzerland as a jurisdiction which tolerates such disgusting practices, and also brings the reputation of financial services into disrepute.

Kindly pass this email on to all those responsible for the Swiss Derivative Awards and ensure that the judges are removed and replaced with competent judges who do proper due diligence before handing out awards to a firm which facilitates financial crime.

Angela Brooks

March 25, 2018
SWISS DERIVATIVES AWARD 2018 – LEONTEQ – SERIOUSLY?
I’ve decided on a radical career change. I’m going to study to become a psychiatrist. My first patient is going to be Prof. Dr. Marc Oliver Rieger who voted Leonteq as best peddler of toxic, high-risk, crappy structured notes at the Swiss Derivatives Awards. Even before I qualify, I already know what treatment this idiot needs: a smart slap on his shiny head and then therapy to help him acknowledge what a waste of time he is.

Professor Rieger was chairman of the Swiss Derivatives Awards jury. And he damn well should have known better than to shame his country, the financial services industry, and those who wasted their time and qualifications educating him in the first place. This guy has a PhD, so he must have had at least a couple of brain cells at some point. But something obviously fried them both because he should have known better than to allow Leonteq to be rewarded – as opposed to vilified and sanctioned – for the wholesale damage caused by their toxic products to hundreds of victims.

Professor Rieger will need months – if not years – of intensive psychiatric therapy to cure him of his inability to comprehend that rogue firms such as Leonteq should be banned from financial services altogether – not given awards for helping to scam innocent victims out of their life savings. Leonteq was selling their rubbish products to an unlicensed firm of “introducers” masquerading as financial advisers: Continental Wealth Management between 2010 and 2017. Further, Leonteq was paying this firm of scammers commissions of between 6% and 8%. Many of the victims whose pensions were invested in Leonteq’s derivatives products have lost most – or even all – of their retirement savings.

Professor Rieger is not the only one who has caused this award abomination. On the panel of judges was another academic who should have known better: Philippe Béguelin. He appears to have a decent pedigree and was editor at FuW for seven years. He is reported as having a background in financial markets, monetary policy, economics, investments, foreign currencies, commodities, and financial instruments such as structured products.

There are numerous obvious things lacking in Phillippe Beguelin’s education and career history – including basic decency and common sense. You just don’t give awards to rogue firms which facilitate financial crime.

In my new career as a psychiatrist, I am bound to have my hands full – not just with the various nutters in offshore financial services the world over, but also with other members of the Swiss Derivatives Awards judges panel which include:
- Dr. Heinz Kubli, CEO Fundabilis AG
- André Buck, Head Sales, SIX Swiss Exchange AG
- Stephan Welti, Managing Partner – Geissbühler Weber & Partner AG
- Prof. Dr. Martin Wallmeier, Lehrstuhl für Finanzmanagement und Rechnungswesen, Universität Fribourg (Research Award)
- Martin Raab, Executive Director, Derivative Partners AG
They are all, obviously, stark-raving bonkers. There may be no hope for most of them, but I might be able to help one or two of them to lead normal lives one day.

What these sad cases need to understand is that:
- Leonteq sold their toxic, crappy products through an unlicensed scammer: Continental Wealth Management
- Knowing full well that their rubbish products were only suitable for idiots with more money than sense, Leonteq sold their crap to an unlicensed firm of scammers and paid them between 6% and 8% in commission
- Leonteq put together an ultra-high-risk pile of crap which paid 8% to the scammers and which caused even higher losses to the victims.
One of the partners of this absurd awards ceremony was Geissbuhler Weber & Partner – who should also hang their heads in shame. This firm claims to advise providers on the fulfillment of financial market regulatory requirements and the optimisation of compliance and risk processes. Today, Geissbühler Weber & Partner is, allegedly, known in Switzerland as a “reliable partner for banks and asset managers”. As far as I am concerned, they are as bad as Leonteq and the scammers they helped make rich.

Perhaps the hundreds of Continental Wealth Management victims would like to email these morons and let them know what they think of them condoning giving “awards” to a firm which has facilitated and profited from financial crime:

alex.geissbuehler@gwp.ch

reto.weber@gwp.ch

stephan.welti@gwp.ch

pia.aeberhard@gwp.ch

admira.besic@gwp.ch

regine.wolfensberger@gwp.ch

www.gwpartner.ch
March 24, 2018
LEONTEQ “DRIVEN BY POSITIVE CLIENT SENTIMENT”
LEONTEQ “DRIVEN BY POSITIVE CLIENT SENTIMENT” (Really?) In their 2017 annual report, rogue structured note provider Leonteq has reported “GROWTH ACROSS ALL REGIONS – Driven by positive client sentiment and solid demand for structured products”.

I have no idea what sort of claptrap Marco Amato, CEO and CFO of Leonteq, thinks he is spinning in the 2017 annual report, but if Leonteq really is “experiencing growth across all regions”, this is very serious indeed. If hundreds more victims are going to lose their retirement savings across the globe due to Leonteq’s toxic, professional-investor-only structured notes being sold to low-risk retail investors, then he should hang his head in shame.

Leonteq’s Chairman – Christopher M. Chambers – is quoted as saying:

“We are immensely grateful to Marco Amato for having served as interim CEO during a very difficult phase for our company. He has done an outstanding job. We look forward to continuing to count on his experience and leadership as Deputy CEO and CFO.”

I just hope the new CEO – Lukas Ruflin – will start paying compensation to the CWM victims.

The only positive client sentiment that I can see, is that the Continental Wealth Management victims are positive that Leonteq should pay compensation for the terrible losses caused by their dodgy, toxic structured notes.

And Leonteq can, of course, afford to pay. Here are their 2017 results:

I note they paid their staff £87 million in that year. Way too much – I suggest they halve all employees’ wages until the Continental Wealth Management victims are fully compensated.

I have some other suggestions for Leonteq:
- Don’t take business from unlicensed firms
- Don’t take business from known scammers who put investors into extortionately expensive insurance bonds such as OMI, Generali and SEB
- Don’t take business from known scammers
- Don’t allow low/medium risk investors to be invested in Leonteq’s high-risk, toxic, professional-investor-only structured products which are clearly labelled:
“Danger of losing part or all of your capital”

Rogue life office, Old Mutual International, has been wittering on about suing Leonteq for many months – but never actually does anything about it other than spout a lot of meaningless hot air.

Time to make up your mind Old Mutual. Your victims are suffering terribly – and you don’t seem to care.
March 2, 2018
Say NO to structured notes for pensions!

Structured notes – say NO to them if an adviser wants to invest your pension in them. They are high-risk investments which are for professional investors ONLY – and not for ordinary retail investors – especially pensions.

Say NO to structured notes for pensions!

Structured notes have been used as pension investments for some years. Many advisers don’t understand them – and certainly, no retail pension investors understand them either. Structured notes are definitely not the low risk, high return investments originally promised – and the capital is NOT protected as claimed by some advisers.

As in the above example, it is a disgrace that structured note providers such as Commerzbank, Nomura, RBC and Leonteq have allowed their toxic products to be used for retail pension savers. Even when these rotten products have nosedived repeatedly, these dishonest and dishonourable providers keep on flogging them to destroy victims’ retirement savings.

Along with the rogue advisers – such as the scammers from Holborn Assets and Continental Wealth Management – and the rogue structured note providers, there are also rogue insurance companies who accept these toxic, high-risk, professional-investor-only investments. These insurers know full well that accepting these notes will doom the policyholders to poverty in retirement, but they don’t care. Some of the worst of these “life offices” are Old Mutual International, SEB, and Generali. These companies are no better than scammers and really should be called “death offices” since they effectively kill off thousands of victims’ life savings with their extortionate charges.

Commerzbank, Nomura, RBC and Leonteq all claim to be “award winning and innovative companies” and yet they show zero compassion to the victims who lose huge proportions of their retirement savings. The structured note providers keep paying commissions to the scammers – ranging from 6% to 8% of the investments. And then, when the structured notes go belly up, they simply sell more of the same toxic rubbish to the same scammers in an attempt to further ruin the victims.

So what the hell are structured notes? And why should investors say NO to them?

A structured note is an IOU from an investment bank that uses derivatives to create exposure to one or more investments. For example, you can have a structured note betting on the S&P 500 Price Index, the Emerging Market Price Index, or both. The combinations are almost limitless.

Say NO to structured notes for pensions!

Structured notes are frequently peddled by less-scrupulous financial advisers – as well as outright scammers – as a “high-yield, low-risk” supposedly backdoor way to own stocks. However, regulators have warned that investors can get burned – which they frequently do. If the investment banks can flog it, they will make just about any toxic cocktail you can dream up. In reality, a structured note is an unsecured debt issued by a bank or brokerage firm – and the amount of money the investor might (or might not) get back is pegged to the performance of stocks or broad market indexes.

Read more: Structured Notes: Buyer Beware!

On the surface, the ‘cocktails’ the structured note providers make seems like they could generate a great return. However, the truth is they often benefit the financial adviser rather than the investors.

Structured notes are suitable for professional investors only – and the fact sheets issued by the providers state this clearly. Whilst they do offer high returns if successful, they are also high risk with no protection on the amount invested. Structured notes should not be used for pensions.

Continental Wealth Management(CWM) invested over a thousand low to medium risk clients’ retirement savings in structured notes – mostly provided by Commerzbank, Nomura, RBC and Leonteq. These clients now have seriously decimated funds and are worried sick. But Commerzbank, Nomura, RBC and Leonteq have shown neither remorse for their toxic, high-risk, illiquid products nor concern for the hundreds of victims.

OMI (Quilter), Generali and SEB have also been totally disinterested in the thousands of failed structured notes they have facilitated. Indeed they are even charging the victims crippling early exit penalties when they decide to get out of the expensive and pointless insurance bonds which are further eating into the remaining funds.

Most structures notes have no guarantee, so their worth often depreciates to less than the paper they are printed on. Much like a bet at the races, if you bet £10 on Noble Nag to win in the 2.30 at Kempton Park at ten to one, you are guaranteed to win £100 if the horse wins. But if the horse doesn’t win, you say goodbye to your money.

Most structured notes are dressed up to look appealing to the uninformed victim. But in reality they are high risk and illiquid and can result in total decimation of a victim’s life savings. The advisors rarely disclose the commissions they are earning from the purchase of the structured notes (or from the insurance bond). Plus, once the structured notes start showing a serious loss, the adviser just dismisses this as “only a paper loss”. As the advisors have already taken their cut, they are rarely bothered if this high-risk investment does lose the client money.

So if you hear the term ‘structured note’ in connection with your retirement fund, just say ‘NO’. The only people profiting from this type of investment are the advisers.

********************************************

As always, Pension Life would like to remind you that if you are planning to transfer any pension funds, make sure that you are transferring into a legitimate scheme. To find out how to avoid being scammed, please see our blog:

What is a pension scam?

Follow Pension Life on twitter to keep up with all things pension related, good and bad.

January 27, 2018
QUILTER – A NEW HOBBY FOR OMI?

Quilter – Old Mutual International – new name to try to hide past crimes

QUILTER – A NEW HOBBY FOR OMI? OMI – Old Mutual International – needs to compensate thousands of victims of financial crime which they facilitated. I can’t make up my mind whether they are adopting the brand “Quilter” to attempt to shake off their sordid and toxic past, or whether they are actually taking up quilting.

If OMI really is going to become a quilter, it needs to make a quilt depicting all the criminals whose crimes it has facilitated for so many years. And all the victims who have lost part of or all of their life savings.

What OMI really needs to do is to get firmly behind the prosecution of the criminals – from whom they profited for many years. OMI must contribute to the cost of denouncing these criminals and ensuring they are given maximum prison sentences.

Also, OMI – Old Mutual – must stop allowing toxic, professional-investor-0nly structured notes in their bonds. Typically, these were provided by Commerzbank, Nomura, Leonteq and RBC. If Old Mutual International wants to gamble away its own money on these crap products, then be my guest. But don’t expose retail pension savers to these sordid, high-risk instruments – used by the scammers as mere tiles in a game of Scrabble.

Thanks to IFA Al Rush, there is now a criminal investigation into the hordes of vultures who preyed on the British Steelworkers. This has been eloquently reported by Henry Tapper in his blog about the police investigation at Port Talbot.

Al Rush championing the British Steelworkers who have been scammed

Al Rush has suggested the wording which victims can use to report those who scammed – or attempted to scam – them. And all of what Al and his colleagues have done has been done at their own expense and out of a sense of decency.

Hard to tell the difference between OMI and Quilter and Jabba The Hut

This is in stark and stinky contrast to OMI – Old Mutual International. Since 2011, OMI has sat and watched – like a cross between Jabba The Hut and a Black Widow Spider – while thousands of victims have seen their life savings dwindle away to very little or even nothing. And all the while, taking extortionate fees and paying commissions to the very scammers who ruined the victims in the first place.

So does OMI really think that adopting the name “Quilter” will make future victims fail to make the connection – that this is the same firm that took business from dozens of unregulated scammers such as Continental Wealth Management, Abbey Financial Solutions, Holborn Assets, Guardian Wealth Management, and other “chiringuitos”?

Perhaps the worst crime committed by OMI is not that they took business from unlicensed scammers; not that they allowed 100% of victims’ pension funds to be invested in professional-investor-only, high-risk structured notes; not that they sat there idly and negligently while the clients’ pensions and investments shrank inexorably……

Old Mutual International – the rubbish end of financial services

the worst of OMI’s crimes has been that when there are only a few crumbs left of a life-time’s retirement savings, they will still charge crippling early-exit penalties. OMI, or Skandia, or Quilter or Jabba The Hut or whatever the hell this toxic, evil shower call themselves, have no place in financial services. They have facilitated and profited from financial crime for years and benefited from the misery and ruin of thousands of victims.

In an attempt to emulate Al Rush’s suggested police report for British Steel victims at the hands of the various scammers who targeted, stalked and scammed them, here is my suggested report for OMI victims to make to the police and the regulators. Naturally, this will work equally well for victims of Generali, SEB, RL360, Friends Provident, Hansard, Investors Trust etc.

OMI must be sanctioned for facilitating financial crime

‘I was advised to transfer out of my personal/occupational (delete as appropriate) pension scheme and was lied to when I asked about how much money would be taken from me. I think, over time especially, I will lose/have already lost many tens of thousands of pounds (probably, hundreds of thousands of pounds) in fees which were hidden from me.

This will bleed my pot dry, leave me exposed to poverty in old age and create a burden on the local council.

I was specifically told there would be no penalties or lock-in periods.

Can you help me please, I would like to make a formal statement and help you bring charges against those who did this, and those who helped them’.

January 20, 2018
OMI? OMG! SAME OLD, SAME OLD MUTUAL – SAME OLD LIES
Old Mutual International (OMI) is at the heart of much of what is wrong with offshore financial services. The CWM debacle clearly evidences this.

OMI, formerly Skandia and soon to be Quilter, provided the vehicle used to wipe out thousands of victims’ life savings – not only in the CWM scam, but also with many other rogue financial advisers (often referred to by the Spanish regulator as “chiringuitos”).

OMI (Old Mutual International) is used as a bogus life assurance policy to “wrap” dodgy investments which subsequently nose dive and destroy portfolios.

The so-called “life wrapper” serves absolutely no purpose from the investors’ point of view, other than to pay exorbitant fees to OMI and the adviser (which is often not licensed to provide either insurance or investment advice). These fees, of course, mean that the victims’ pensions and investments never have a hope in hell of growing – or even maintaining their original value.

High-risk, illiquid, professional-investor-only structured notes bought with the victims’ retirement savings by rogue advisers (such as Continental Wealth Management – CWM) frequently fail – and sometimes are even fraudulent – so bring victims’ funds crashing down even further. In the case of the CWM debacle, the structured notes were mostly Commerzbank, Nomura, RBC and Leonteq, and many of the notes crashed – costing the victims millions of pounds.

OMI charged the victims the following fees:
- Regular Management Charge 1.15% for ten (yes – TEN!) years
- Admin Charge Eur 144.00 annually
- Early Surrender Charge 11.5% – reducing by 1.15% a year to nil after ten years
But did OMI do any actual “management”? No. They never monitored the losses, alerted the investors or offered to do anything to help stem the hemorrhaging of victims’ funds. OMI just sat there like a lazy, greedy, callous parasite and watched the victims’ retirement savings dwindle. OMI must have known that this would be condemning thousands of people to poverty in retirement and yet they obviously did not care two hoots.

Did they do any actual “admin”? Yes. They reported the losses and ever-shrinking funds. But they took no action to help the thousands of victims or prevent further losses.

Was it reasonable to tie victims into a useless, pointless insurance bond for ten years? After all, the bond clearly offered no protection or guarantee of the capital invested. And was it right to charge 11.5% for the privilege of losing huge proportions of the funds? No, absolutely not. In law, a pension scheme member has a right to transfer and needs the flexibility to alter their pension arrangements whenever they need to. Being tied into a useless and expensive insurance bond FOR TEN YEARS is the last thing a retirement saver needs.

In the wake of this appalling tragedy, what has OMI done to put things right?

Has OMI offered to pay compensation to the victims?

NOPE

Has OMI offered to rebate its (extortionate) charges?

NOPE

Has OMI offered to waive the punitive exit fees for those who want to try to rescue what’s left?

NOPE

Has OMI lowered the 25% barrier so that ruined and desperate victims can access some income to avoid starving to death?

NOPE

Has OMI learned anything whatsoever from the CWM debacle? Has it turned over a new leaf and stopped accepting business from unlicensed scammers such as CWM? Has it stopped making exorbitant charges which drag retirement savings down? Has it stopped paying huge commissions to scammers to encourage them to destroy thousands of victims life savings? Has it stopped allowing and promoting toxic structured notes?

The answer to all of the above is a resounding NO. OMI knew exactly what terrible fate it was condemning the victims to for the past seven years.

OMI knew that the victims could face losing significant parts of their retirement savings – and stood by while it happened. Well, not exactly just stood by – they made huge profits in the process.

Has OMI learned anything from this tragedy? Has it turned over a new leaf? Absolutely not. In November 2017, it was still offering – and even aggressively pushing – structured notes to financial advisers and offering meaty commissions – obviously trying to replicate the huge success it made out of the Continental Wealth Management scam. On 30th November 2017, OMI sent out a bulk email to advisers:

From: Old Mutual International mail: intmarketing@engage.omwealth.com]

Dear Greedy Broker, HURRY HURRY HURRY! SPECIAL OFFER ON STRUCTURED NOTES TO FLOG TO UNSUSPECTING VICTIMS. GET YOUR RUNNING SHOES ON – THIS OFFER CLOSES 15TH DECEMBER 2017. WE NEED MORE UNSUSPECTING MUGS LIKE THE CWM VICTIMS SO WE CAN MAKE MORE HUGE PROFITS AND CONDEMN MORE PEOPLE TO POVERTY IN RETIREMENT.

“The latest, tranche of structured products provided by BNP Paribas is available now through our portfolio bonds. But you don’t have long to get business in – this tranche will now close on 15th December 2017.

The products on offer during this tranche are:

Global Equity Income 5 – with a five year term paying quarterly income of 6% a year in USD or 5% a year in GBP – capital at risk product

Global Equity Autocall 9 – autocall product with a six year term paying 10% a year in USD or 8.25% a year in GBP – capital at risk product

Multi-Asset Diversified Global Certificate 10 – with a five year term and 100% capital protection

Full details, including how to access the products, are on our dedicated structured products page.”

Notes pay initial commission of 5.88% to Old Mutual of which 4.69% is paid to the adviser. OMI pockets 1.19%. No wonder OMI are pushing this!

The BNP Paribas “handbook” spouts the same old same old rubbish that CWM was using to con around 1,000 victims out of their retirement savings between 2011 and 2017:

“Structured Products are investments that are fully
customised to meet specific objectives such as capital
protection, diversification, yield enhancement, leverage,
regular income, tax/regulation optimisation and
access to non-traditional asset classes, amongst others.
The strength of a Structured Product lies in its
flexibility and tailored investment approach.
In their simplest form, Structured Products offer
investors full or partial capital protection coupled
with an equity-linked performance and a variable
degree of leverage. They are commonly used as a
portfolio enhancement tool to increase returns
while limiting the risk of loss of capital.”

The hundreds of CWM victims know that this is all lies: with structured notes, there is no capital protection; no flexibility; no portfolio enhancement; no increased returns and no limit to the risk of loss of capital. Shame on BNP Paribas for helping OMI to dupe more victims into losing their retirement savings and facing financial ruin.

So, the message to the public is:

DON’T TOUCH OMI – OLD MUTUAL INTERNATIONAL – WITH A BARGEPOLE

DON’T TOUCH STRUCTURED NOTES IN GENERAL WITH A BARGEPOLE

DON’T TOUCH STRUCTURED NOTES BY BNP PARIBAS WITH A BARGEPOLE

DON’T BELIEVE THE LIES TOLD BY ROGUE FINANCIAL ADVISERS, OMI OR BNP PARIBAS

DON’T BECOME ANOTHER VICTIM OF THE INSURANCE BOND/STRUCTURED NOTE SCAM

Lastly, OMI’s self-congratulating rubbish on their website crows about their “customer principles” and the many awards they have won. An example of this is the following statement:

Giving good service to financial advisers and their clients is at the heart of our business. We work hard to constantly improve our standards in this area. Our track record speaks for itself.

And yes, OMI’s track record does speak for itself – and anyone who does even the most basic maths will inevitably say “Oh My God!”.

And BNP Paribas’ claim that “a Structured Product lies” sums it all up nicely.
January 7, 2018