For over a decade, life offices (more accurately known as “death” offices) have been the centre of millions of pounds’ worth of destroyed pensions. So here we are going to name the top 3 worst life offices… These are just some of the things they’ve been up to: Collaborating with scammers: unregulated, rogue firms posing […]
TOP 3 WORST LIFE OFFICES Read More »
The Spanish criminal trial of so-called “financial advisers” in Denia has exposed the widespread fraud routinely committed in offshore financial services for over a decade. This particular stage of this particular trial may be directed at just eight members of Continental Wealth Management and Premier Pension Solutions. For now. But the case – brought by
Fraud Trial Against Pension Scammers in Spain Read More »
In the past decade, millions of pounds of pensions and life savings have been destroyed in Spain. Much of this has involved insurance bonds (OMI, SEB and Generali) – as well as all other popular expat countries. Only by benefitting from lessons learned so painfully by those who’ve already been scammed, can new potential victims
Armed Against Pension Scams in Spain Read More »
The recent awards given to Quilter Cheviot and Quilter International by International Adviser (sponsored by Quilter) must have sickened and disgusted many Quilter (OMI/Skandia) victims. Editor Kirsten Hastings’ saccharine and gushing words of praise will have been seen as offensive in the extreme by the thousands of victims who have lost their pensions and life
Manita Khuller Award – Justice Against All Odds Read More »
Recent data obtained by Quilter (formerly Old Mutual International and Royal Skandia) under a freedom of information request has further highlighted the issue of financial education, or rather the lack of it, with many casualties of fraud ‘unaware they may have fallen victim‘ to such a scheme. Quilter plc (the well-known asset/wealth management company, “life
Quilter: Critical or Hypocritical? Read More »
FCA and FOS continue to dismay and disgust; CWM criminal case set to change offshore financial services; Forged dealing instructions epidemic; Offshore advisory firms without an investment license. It now emerges that on top of a failed “City Watchdog” (the Federated Consolidation of Apathy) we also have not just one, but two failed ombudsmen. The
Pension Life – Pension File November 2019 Read More »
Normally a great fan of FT Adviser – and their excellent, independent journalists – I was horrified at the recent “Guide to Structured Products” (particularly the section on how risky they are by Craig Rickman). Noting that this article can be used towards CPD credits, I was astonished that so little attention was paid to
How risky are structured products – and fireworks? Read More »
Jody Smart (or Bell or Kirby or whatever name she uses now) appeared in the Criminal Court in Denia on 1st October 2019. As one of the group of defendants in the fraud trial – including her former partner Darren Kirby (who didn’t turn up) – she testified about her involvement in the £100 million
Jody Smart of CWM – courting justice Read More »
The FC A hasn’t got a ****ing Scooby. The Federation of Consolidated Apathy has now proved way beyond reasonable doubt that it is clueless about pensions in general. And worse – much worse – that it doesn’t understand the deadly problems with DB pension transfer advice. The Federation of Consolidated Apathy has published a video
DB transfers: FCA hasn’t a Scooby Read More »
Alliance Partnership – ‘ere we go again! Just how many warning signs do you need? Alliance Partnership – ‘ere we go again! After the Continental Wealth Management debacle – a fraud facilitated by the usual suspects: Old Mutual International, Generali and SEB – the public must be warned about similar firms which are likely to
Alliance Partnership – ‘ere we go again! Read More »
Mail on Sunday’s Laura Shannon met a group of victims of the Continental Wealth Management scam in Denia in July 2019. Here is a link to her excellent article Continental Wealth Management – “Plunder in paradise”: MAIL ON SUNDAY ARTICLE All power to her, this young lady put all other would-be investigative journalists to shame.
Continental Wealth Management – “Plunder in paradise” Read More »
Fighting pension scams: Regulation If it was easy to stop pension scams, everyone would be doing it. Clearing up the mess left behind a pension scam is a huge challenge. This is why clear international standards need to be recognised and adopted. The scammers are like flocks of vultures. If people only used regulated firms,
Fighting pension scams: Regulation Read More »
Blackmore Bond – yet another reason why only regulated advisers should be used for investment advice. The clear link between the recently-failed LCF Bond and Blackmore Bond through Surge Group remind us how important regulated investment advisers are. In the news again is the troubled Blackmore Group. This time we read that they have ‘temporarily’
Blackmore Bond – yet another failed investment? Read More »
A SLICE OF THE ACTION by Joshua Parfitt of the Olive Press EXCLUSIVE: Expats who lost millions to dodgy finance firm CWM fear action group boss may be scamming them too. It is a sad fact that people who have been victims of a scam will never fully trust anybody ever again. One thousand people
Olive Press Article on Continental Wealth Management Read More »
In every pension scam there is one beginning, lots of middles, and always a wretched ending for the victim and a profitable ending for the scammers. The beginning is always a negligent, lazy, box-ticking transfer by a ceding provider – the worst of which always tend to be the likes of Standard Life, Prudential, Scottish
Who killed the pension? Scammers; ceding providers; introducers; HMRC? Read More »
Another high-risk investment fund goes belly up. London Capital & Finance (LCF) has gone into administration, not long after taking a whopping £236m of investments – much of which was from first-time investors. It is thought that 12,000 investors have been financially ruined. This tragic news comes as plans are being drawn up to take
London Capital & Finance collapses Read More »
The mis-selling of life assurance policies and long-term savings plans has been a regular topic in our blogs. Many victims of pension scams see their funds mis-invested into life assurance policies. These life assurance policies do little more than drain the fund value with their expensive fees and costs. Generali has for years been aggressively
Generali – jumping ship to avoid new regulations? Read More »
When we buy certain products, they have a warning on them. Cigarette packets, for instance, state that smoking is bad for your health. The wrappers show hideous images of what might happen to you if you use tobacco. However, when it comes to investments, the ‘advisers’ selling dangerous investments are able to disguise the risks
Hidden charges that destroy your pension funds Read More »
The recent PSIG (Pension Scams Industry Group) Scams Survey Pilot 2018 has identified seven “key” findings in their survey. As scam watchers, we are well aware of these points and are, of course, glad they have been highlighted. PSIG’s key finding are set out below. So let us admit one key fact: ALL PENSION SCAMS START WITH A
Time for all pension providers to wake up and stop pension scams Read More »
Every year we are seeing an increase in the number of victims falling for pension and investment scams. Despite warnings in the public domain and a huge array of information about how to avoid falling victim to a scam, it seems the scammers are so skilled at their sales techniques, that even the cleverest of
Cold calling scammers target expats after the ban in UK – BBC4 You and Yours Read More »
Attention financial advisers in Spain/who provide financial advice to Spanish residents. 18th February 2019 DEATH OF THE LIFE BOND: The Spanish insurance and pensions regulator, the DGS, made a judgment against Costa Blanca-based Continental Wealth Management (CWM) on 10.1.2019. The order (translated and summarised below) confirmed that there are strict regulations in Spain for
Death of the Life Bond (Life of the Death Bond?) Read More »
The Spanish Insurance Regulator – the DGS (Dirección General de Seguros y Fondos de Pensiones) – has made a most welcome judgment. This outlaws the mis-selling of bogus life assurance policies as investment “platforms” – aka “life bonds”. Read the translated summary below. The iniquitous practice of scamming victims into these expensive, pointless bonds – so
No more bogus life assurance policies in Spain Read More »
In the Pension Life office, we have been wondering how to get the information about pension scams more widely seen, heard and taken on board. We’d like to ensure the masses are educated and aware that pension scammers can strike from many angles, and with a variety of “deals”. Pension scammers must be stopped and
Pension scammers must be stopped Read More »
Intro written by Kim: ‘This week Angie travelled for work (yet again): she had to fly from Granada to Barcelona. Disaster struck – her baggage sadly did not make the full journey -it’s sitting in the triangle of lost luggage no doubt. The airline – Vueling – whilst only providing the flight, was still happy
Vueling v Old Mutual International Read More »
FT adviser published an article entitled, Cold calling ban approved by committee. However, do not get too excited as it hasn’t actually been approved by Parliament or got anywhere closer to being included in UK legislation. Plans to ban cold calling were announced back in August 2017. Scammers love to cold call their victims and hard
Cold calling ban still not approved Read More »
As 2018 draws to a close, a recap is in order to review the year’s progress in the war against pension scammers. Let us not forget – in the immortal words of the Pensions Regulator’s Lesley Titcombe: “scammers are criminals“. However, the sad truth is that most of them have not been prosecuted or jailed.
Scammers are criminals. So why aren’t they in jail? Read More »
Premier New Earth Recycling and Renewables PLC (in liquidation) is being wound up by Deloittes. Joint liquidators Alexander Cameron Adam and David Peter Craine have written to shareholders to say the directors of NERR aren’t being terribly helpful. Apparently, they are refusing to cooperate with the investigation into why the company failed and are insisting
Premier New Earth Recycling (NERR) Investment Scam Read More »
I have enormous respect for FT Adviser. Their articles are written by proper journalists and they generally write competently and professionally. FT Adviser puts International Adviser to shame with their thinly-disguised promotional shows and Micky Mouse “articles” which only ever promote their own sponsors – Old Mutual International and their ilk. It was really interesting
FT Adviser Top 100 Financial Advisers 2018 Read More »
International Adviser really can’t make up its mind whether it is organising a piss-up in a brewery, a news roundup carefully slewed in favour sponsors Old Mutual International, or a marketing machine. I read with interest the recent IA Industry Most Influential Top 100 described by IA thus: “we at International Adviser decided to shine a light
International Adviser – Have I Got News For You! Read More »
Nitwit or Dragonfly? Gambling or Investing? Are investment losses as a result of a bad adviser or a bad investment? Or both? The real question is: how does the consumer tell the difference? A favourite episode of Fawlty Towers involved Basil’s ill-fated bet on a racehorse called Dragonfly. Confusion sets in – fuelled by the
Nitwit or Dragonfly? Gambling or Investing? Read More »
Written by Kim All pension and investment scams have one thing in common: if the pension scam victims had asked the offshore advisers some or all of these 10 essential questions, they might not have lost their life savings to the scammers. Here at Pension Life, we are working hard to help educate the masses
Cartoon blog – Don’t be the next pension scam victim Read More »
International Adviser and the Old Mutual International/Quilter Scams. Today’s jolly: “Future Advisory Forum Europe 2018” at the Courthouse Hotel, Shoreditch, will see a number of players in the financial services industry discussing – presumably – financial services in 2018. I’ve looked at the agenda, however, and I can’t see anything about pension scams or investment scams
International Adviser and the Old Mutual International/Quilter Scams Read More »
All victims of the Continental Wealth Management pension scam will agree – this kind of disaster must never be allowed to happen again. Here´s Pension Life´s take on what happened in the CWM CONference given by Darren Kirby. The CWM advisers. . . Dean Stogsdill * Alan Gorringe * Richard Peasley * Neil Hathaway, but to name
ROLL UP! ROLL UP! ME HEARTY SCAMMERS! OMI’S LATEST STRUCTURED NOTE SCAM IS ONLY AVAILABLE UNTIL SEPTEMBER 28TH SO GET A JIGGLE ON WHILE STOCKS OF THIS TOXIC CRAP LAST! WE ARE PROUD TO OFFER OUR VALUED SCAMMERS YET ANOTHER INVESTMENT SCAM BY OLD MUTUAL INTERNATIONAL. This wonderful investment scamming opportunity with OMI, is open to
YET ANOTHER STRUCTURED NOTE SCAM BY OLD MUTUAL INTERNATIONAL Read More »
In many pension scams, we see the use of totally unsuitable, high-risk, for-professional-investor-only structured notes. These notes often offer the introducer high commissions. However, they are risky, fixed-term investments that often end in the loss of some – or even all – of the fund invested. Therefore, these types of investments are totally unsuitable for
Structured notes – knowing the risks Read More »
Investors’ trust is what gets violated in so many cases by irresponsible and negligent insurance companies such as Old Mutual International, SEB, Generali, RL360, Friends Provident International – and, of course, the firm in the Cayman Islands: Investors Trust. These companies – also known as “life offices” (although we prefer to call them “death offices”
Serious Violation of Investors’ Trust – by Investors Trust (life office) Read More »
Humour me – you may consider me to be naive – but I believe that the ills of financial services (especially offshore) can be put right. All it takes is for the ethical stakeholders to outlaw the unethical ones. Yes, it will be a bit like something out of the Old Testament – but I
WANTED: MAGIC FAIRY TO CURE WHAT’S WRONG WITH FINANCIAL SERVICES OFFSHORE Read More »
OMI IPO Profit Warning – urgent please read carefully. Old Mutual International (OMI) have entered into an IPO – initial public offering. This means they have become a public company rather than a private one. Frequent readers of Pension Life blogs will know that OMI have featured heavily in our recent blogs with regards to issues
OMI IPO Profit Warning Read More »
Old Mutual International filed a High Court application on 16th 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.
OLD MUTUAL INTERNATIONAL V LEONTEQ CASE MOVED TO LONDON Read More »
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.
SEB LIFE (OR DEATH) – WILL THE CENTRAL BANK OF IRELAND BRING THEM TO JUSTICE? Read More »
Most victims of pension and investment scams bitterly regret not having asked more questions with regards to their financial planning. The problem is that they wouldn’t have known what questions to ask, and they probably wouldn’t have understood the answers even if they had. Pension Life offer you 10 essential questions to ask an IFA so
10 essential questions to ask an IFA Read More »
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 (OMI) facilitating financial crime Read More »
Generali has responded to one of the complaints by CWM victims. I have transcribed it below and put my comments in bold. First, let us look at what Generali says on its own website. It is utterly astonishing as it is a complete pack of lies and does nothing to prove it was not facilitating
GENERALI WORLDWIDE – FINANCIAL CRIME FACILITATOR Read More »
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
Keep Calm: Just avoid OMI/Quilter Read More »
One small stumble for the Isle of Man – one giant leap for victims of OMI and CWM. We never thought the litigation against the scourge of financial services – the insurance giant Old Mutual International – was going to be easy. And we knew these negligent and greedy firms would try every trick in
OMI AND IOM DEFEATED BY SPANISH COURT Read More »
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
OMI SUES LEONTEQ over undisclosed commissions Read More »
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
DEMAND FOR LEONTEQ’S AWARDS TO BE WITHDRAWN BY SWISS DERIVATIVES AWARDS Read More »
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:
SWISS DERIVATIVES AWARD 2018 – LEONTEQ – SERIOUSLY? Read More »
DEALING WITH STRESS WHEN SCAMMED OUT OF YOUR PENSION Being scammed out of a big chunk of your pension once is bad enough. But TWICE is awful. Double pension scam victim Jessica M.J. talks about her experience and gives other victims advice about how to cope with the stress that results from being a pension
DEALING WITH STRESS WHEN SCAMMED OUT OF YOUR PENSION Read More »
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
LEONTEQ “DRIVEN BY POSITIVE CLIENT SENTIMENT” Read More »
