Tag: Pension Life

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
International Investment interview with Pension Life´s Angie Brooks

International Investment interview with Angie Brooks, founder of Pension Life this week. This blog is written by Kim, Angie´s Assistant. Here´s the interview video which explains how Pension Life works to help victims of pension and investment scams. The interview also raises the question as to why pension and investment scams are so prolific – despite Angie’s hard work to bring them into the public eye – and bring scammers to justice.

As Angie states in the video, Pension Life was originally founded to help victims of the ARK pension scam with their tax liabilities. However, four years on and Pension Life has evolved. Angie is now involved in helping 34 different groups of victims of pension and investment scams. Angie regularly goes to the regulators and ombudsmen in different jurisdictions and makes complaints on their behalf.

Pension Life is based in Spain, and Angie works with clients all over the world. Pension and investment scammers have no boundaries or borders and will weave their evil mischief wherever they can find British expats.

Angie offers her members a fixed membership fee, meaning “people know exactly what they are going to pay in advance”. Using privately-funded solicitors can be pricey and sometimes even non-starterer. Angie has, over the past four years, educated herself in pension and investment scams – how they work and how they are (constantly) evolving. Members can rest assured that they are being represented by a leading expert in the area of pension and investment scams.

If it were up to Angie, the people and firms responsible for pension and investment scams would all be sent to jail and the keys thrown away. With her weekly blogs and videos on the Pension Life website, and with the use of social media, Angie is hoping to get the word out there and warn both the public and the industry.

Angie stands up for the masses, where their single complaints are lost in a pile of excuses by the firms responsible for the destruction of their funds. She meets and speaks to as many victims as she can. Each victim has his or her own tragedy – often involving serious health issues and terrible financial hardship as a result of being scammed out of their life savings.

Some of Angie´s blogs are very hard hitting towards the firms and advisors who condone the use of pension and investment scams. The role Angie plays in uncovering the crooks of the industry is not without risk and often her outspoken words attract negative attention. Angie often receives threats of being sued by the lawyers who represent the companies she blogs about.

Angie states, “But If I was frightened I wouldn´t do it.”

Its not just solicitors who bombard her in outrage about the clearly-evidenced facts that Angie reports, she also has a herd of internet trolls who target her incessantly.

Angie says with reference to her blog trolls:

“There is a reason why I write my blogs. Firstly to warn the public and expose the things that go wrong in the financial services industry – to try to help new people avoid falling victim to scams, negligence and mis-selling; secondly to bring firms to the table to negotiate a solution to a problem where a client has suffered losses in their pension or investment portfolio. Few people have funds to instruct lawyers to sue firms to force them to pay redress for clients’ losses, so it is much better and cheaper to get the firm to volunteer to do so amicably and in a non-contentious manner.

But my blogs do upset the scammers and they regularly post negative comments. I have recently been accused of ‘being in cahoots with’ deVere and other companies and individuals. It is being claimed that I am being paid not to write about them, and to attack their competitors.  It will come as no surprise that those who are now attacking me and accusing me of all sorts of things are the ones whose firms’ questionable practices I have been blogging about recently.

I have in the past had very public spats on social media with deVere AND its CEO, Nigel Green, as well as the others who I have been accused of not writing about. And, if I need to have spats again in the future, I will not hesitate to do so. Like most firms, deVere has indeed made some serious mistakes in the past. However, I do not have any live, unresolved client complaints against the firm.

But this is all just rubbish from scammers who are trying to deflect attention from the main issues that I am writing about. The commenters ignore the facts I am reporting about – i.e. real scams which destroy victims’ life savings – and pick away at me personally. That is absolutely fine, because I am more than happy to be criticised and lied about – because it says more about the writer than it does about me. The people who matter know the truth.

Regular readers of my blogs may notice that sometimes my blogs quietly disappear with no public explanation. There is a reason for that too. The blogs often bring firms to the table and we get stuff done. Sometimes firms even preempt matters and make contact even before I get a chance to do a blog.

If I call a firm to discuss a problem and they enter into helpful and constructive dialogue over how to solve it, I don’t blog about it but keep the matter confidential. There are firms who quietly sort things out without making a fuss in a dignified and conscientious manner. In contrast, however, there are firms that just pull up the shutters – such as OMI and STM Fidecs. Hence why I keep blogging about them.

DeVere is indeed one of a number of firms I don’t currently blog about. So for the nice gentleman called Graham and another charming chap who calls himself “Innocent Bystander” who are accusing me of being partisan, don’t think just about what I do write, but about what I don’t write. There are good reasons for both.

I will continue to expose the actions, practices and vulgar conduct of firms who continue to ignore my questions; And I will tag all those who are stupid and irresponsible enough to keep on working for these firms and helping to fill these firms already bulging pockets.  In contrast, however, Holborn Assets and Guardian Wealth Management have engaged in relation to complaints, and so I have removed all blogs which mention the firm.”

For the future, Angie hopes things will get better and that the war on pension and investment scams can be won. However, much help is needed and Angie calls for the whole industry to get involved and make it their business to know what is happening to expats worldwide.

Airing the problem is one of the best solutions and International Investment has taken a keen interest in the campaigning side of what Pension Life does. It would be a really good thing if some of the media tried to educate themselves on what are the key issues and avoid barking up the wrong trees.

May 23, 2018
Mastermind – Stephen Ward

Since 2010, £millions have been lost to pension scams, thousands of victims have lost their retirement savings, large-scale misery and poverty are the terrible results. One common factor connects many of these scams: one man – Stephen Ward.

Here at Pension Life we have made a video – based on the Mastermind quiz. Lessons must be learned from the dozens of scams, headed by Stephen Ward, which ruined thousands of lives and destroyed hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of pensions.

Premier Pension Solutions, Stephen Ward’s company in Moraira on the Costa Blanca, was responsible for the Ark pension liberation scam. Ward had advised 160 victims to transfer £10m worth of secure pensions into this scheme on the promise of having 50% of their pensions paid to them in cash. 2011 saw the Pensions Regulator place the scheme in the hands of Dalriada Trustees. The High Court called the Ark scheme a “fraud on the power of investment”.

Ward then went on to his next scam: Evergreen New Zealand QROPS and the Marazion “loans”. The “sister company”, Continental Wealth Management, was running the cold-calling operation to lure victims in – and some of the CWM salesmen were hanging around outside supermarkets to try to trap people into this scam. When Evergreen was removed from the QROPS list, Ward continued to work with CWM. It is not known how many other Stephen Ward/Premier Pension Solutions scams CWM was involved in.

Mastermind – Stephen Ward

1. Who is the owner and director of the Spanish firm Premier Pension Solutions based in Moraira on the Costa Blanca in Spain?

Stephen Ward

2. In 2010, who was running road shows in the United Kingdom to promote the Ark pension liberation schemes and recruit introducers?

Stephen Ward

3. In the Ark pension scam, which operated in 2010/11, who was the biggest introducer with more than £10m worth of transfers?

Stephen Ward

4. Who is the author of the Tolley’s Pensions Taxation Manual described as an essential reference source for all tax practitioners?

Stephen Ward

5. Who administered the pension transfer administration in the Capita Oak scam which saw 300 victims lose £10m worth of pensions and is now under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office?

Stephen Ward

6. Who handled the pension transfer administration of the Westminster pension scam which saw 79 victims lose over £3.3 million pounds to worthless investments: now also under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office?

Stephen Ward

7. Who was the trustee for the London Quantum pension scheme now in the hands of Dalriada Trustees and invested in high-risk, illiquid investments such as Dolphin Trust which paid investment introduction commissions of up to 30%?

Stephen Ward

8. Which Level 6 qualified former pensions examiner and IFA in 2014 was famously quoted as saying: “The schemes with which we are involved are completely above board. The Ark thing is history now.”

Stephen Ward

9. Who was promoting the Elysian Fuels SIPPS liberation scheme which he described as allowing members to “trouser” most of their pension fund in cash?

Stephen Ward

10. Who was the owner of the loan company Marazion which operated pension liberation loans in the Evergreen QROPS scam which saw around 300 people lose £10 million worth of pension funds?

Stephen Ward

What is a Pension Scam?

May 20, 2018
FCA Pension Scams

I like to have a good relationship with regulators. And believe me I have tried really really hard with the FCA. I didn’t have much of a relationship with the Pensions Regulator in the past. I asked for a meeting with Tinky Winky, tPR’s former executive director. He turned up with two lawyers (in case one blew away I guess) and a paralegal in an aptly-named conference room called the Warwick Suite at a hotel at Gatwick airport.

Winky accused me of bombarding him with emails (about the Capita Oak scam). I counted them: 16 over an 8-week period. My calculator said that was approximately two per week.

Then he threatened me for “tipping off” and said I could be prosecuted; then the uglier of his two lawyers threatened me with unspecified action if I didn’t wind my neck in. She said to me in a rather unpleasant manner “we can have you sent to the Tower you know – we have wide-ranging powers”.

Anyway, our little tea party in the stuffy room didn’t exactly make for a good spirit between us. So I sighed a huge sigh of relief when Winky departed tPR a year or so later and went to work for LGPS (one of the ceding providers who had performed so appallingly in Ark, Capita Oak and Westminster – handing over £ millions to the scammers without batting an eyelid).

I am happy to say I have a good relationship with Lesley Titcomb – Head of tPR – and am grateful to Henry Tapper for facilitating this.

But, back to the FCA. I went to see John Thorpe at the FCA a couple of years ago – with a rather thin colleague of mine who is a Chartered Financial Planner. John was very enthusiastic about working with us and asked me to give him any intel I had on scams and scammers. He said he would ensure all information would be passed on to the relevant people. However, he did warn me not to deluge him with emails and said: “not more than two or three a week please”.

But then John got moved to another department, which was disappointing. Since then I have sent dozens of complaints to the FCA – as have a number of my associates including IFAs, trustees, compliance officers, chartered financial planners and victims. But the firms in question are left unsanctioned. And the non-compliant practices continue unabated – and more victims are ruined on a daily basis.

In 2016, Jeremy Donaghy-Sutton (a senior airline captain and safety instructor) and I got together in London. He suggested we propose to the FCA an air-crash-style investigation and reporting system to analyse the causes of scams, prevent them from recurring and taking the appropriate action against those responsible for failures. Mostly his brilliant work, we finished and printed off our proposal and set off for the FCA offices.

I had called ahead and told them we would be coming and that we would like to hand our proposal, report and a series of complaints to an appropriate person. I said it was important that we had a brief chat so that we could explain the purpose of our visit (me plus an actual victim) and the accompanying documentation.

We got to the FCA’s North Colonnade office and went to reception. There I explained who I was, what I wanted, who and what I had with me. A very pleasant lady, flanked by two security guards, said “Oh, but we don’t see people here”. Her English wasn’t too bad, but I did wonder whether she hadn’t quite understood what I had said. So I tried again, and went into some detail about the fact that the person I had previously spoken to at the FCA had said that someone would indeed come down and see us.

But her English seemed to get worse the second time. And she still insisted that nobody would come to see us and accept the documents. I tried a third time, while Jeremy sat in the waiting area chuckling quietly as he could see and hear my fuse getting shorter and shorter.

This time the nice lady said she would get someone to speak to me on the phone and asked me to sit down for a few minutes while she got through to somebody. Jeremy and I sat watching the ghastly moving picture on the reception wall – and I wondered what on earth had inspired such a weird and inappropriate piece of “art” (and what the artist had been on at the time).

After about ten minutes, I was summoned back to the reception desk and the nice lady handed me a phone. I have no idea who the man on the other end of the line was, and not much idea whether he was speaking in English or some weird combination of Mandarin, Yiddish and Czech.

When I eventually got my head and ears around his weird accent, I realised he wanted me to explain – over the phone – who I was and what I wanted. By this time there were about twenty people hanging around in the reception area – so this extremely confidential complaint and report proposal was announced loudly and publicly as my voice got higher, squeakier and louder.

I had to spell out some words several times as the man’s English seemed to get worse as the agonisingly painful conversation dragged on and on. When I had finished, exhausted and wondering if this was all a bad dream, the man said “OK, hand your documents into the post room”. We duly dropped the bulging envelope into the tiny little room just outside the entrance to the FCA building. I assume it was all shredded as we never even got an acknowledgement.

Afterwards, over a quick lunch in a Thai restaurant just up the road from the FCA, Jeremy and I wondered if what had happened had all been just a bad dream. How could such a thing happen in a supposedly civilised and well-regulated country. But then Jeremy himself had spent the past five years wondering how the Ark “thing” had been allowed to happen.

The very things I warned about back in 2016 are still happening and victims’ pensions are being routinely destroyed – both in the UK and offshore. At the Transparency Task Force Symposium in November 2017, one victim stood up and related a remarkably similar story to mine about his treatment by FCA. The delegates – who included pension trustees, solicitors, police officers, victims and the wonderful Andy Agathangelou – were stunned and disgusted.

So, if anybody knows anyone at the FCA who might like to do a bit of regulating no more than twice a week, could they please let me know?

Here is the video Pension Life constructed with the help of Jeremy Donaghy-Sutton (a senior airline captain and safety instructor and Ark victim)

What is a Pension Scam?

May 16, 2018
Introduction: Anatomy of a Pension Scam
£11,000,000,000. That is an awfully big number. But this is what financial fraud of pension and investment scamming cost thousands of victims in 2016 according to reported statistics. This begs the urgent question: why have so few – if any – of them been prosecuted?

The Pensions Regulator’s Lesley Titcomb has now officially and publicly declared that scammers are criminals.

Pension Life´s book: Anatomy of a Pension Scam is going to be made into a series of blogs. The purpose of the book is to get the message out there and warn the public; the financial services industry in the UK and offshore; governments; regulators; ombudsmen; crime agencies, HMRC, and the scammers that this huge-scale financial crime will NO LONGER BE TOLERATED. The authorities who have stood by and allowed this to happen have to snap out of their complacency, laziness and incompetence, and actually take some action to bring these criminals to justice.

What we need now is all of the scammers behind bars and the keys thrown away.

The actions of these fraudsters have shaken the confidence in the pensions and investment industry as a whole. Not to mention the harm it has inflicted upon innocent, hard-working people on a huge scale.

Evidence suggests that in the past seven years, there have been many £ billions lost to pension and investment scams – there are no precise “official” figures. But the dreadful fact is that the scammers who were targeting victims back in 2010, continued doing it in 2011; and 2012; and 2013; and 2014; and 2015, and 2016. And they are still doing it today. Happily and profitably. And nobody has stopped them or brought them to account for the horrific financial damage and distress they have caused.

With this in mind it is hard to decide who is the devil himself, the vicious, greedy, cold-hearted scammers or the feeble authorities who let them get away with it. REPEATEDLY!

HMRC were warned by the industry about the potential for scams if the role of compulsory professional trustee was removed pre 2006. In a letter of March 2004, Nick White, specialist pension solicitor warned: “It is essential that schemes offering self-administration and wide investment choice should have in place an independent person who has sufficient control of scheme assets to prevent abuse and sufficient knowledge and experience to know abuse when he sees it.

That does not necessarily mean that the system of pension trustees should be retained in its current form but, if it is abolished without an effective replacement, we envisage that within the next 5 years the degree of abuse of such schemes by both incompetent and dishonest individuals will:
- further stain the reputation of pensions generally; and
- severely embarrass the government responsible for letting it happen
Reputable professionals in the industry and the Government share a common aim of building a system of tax rules that is simple but is robust enough to last for a working lifetime without major overhaul. Such a system needs to contain adequate protections against abuse.”

Nick White’s warning was brought to my attention by Martin Tilley who is director of technical services at Dentons Pension Management. Martin has written some excellent blogs and articles on the subject of pension scams and my favourite has to be this one:

http://www.retirement-planner.co.uk/9344/cleaning-up-pension-scams-with-soap-operas

Either way the one thing we can be sure of is that it has to stop NOW.

So watch this space as we at Pension Life, prepare a documentary series about pension and investment scams. There are many victims who would be only too happy to help recreate the exact wording – both written and verbal – of the scammers’ pitch. With their help we hope to create a military-style, zero tolerance campaign to wage against all the guilty parties until every last one of them is brought to justice.
May 15, 2018
GENERALI WORLDWIDE – FINANCIAL CRIME FACILITATOR
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 financial crime:

—————————————————————————————————————————————

Our Vision: Our purpose is to actively protect and enhance people’s lives
- Actively: We play a proactive and leading role in improving people’s lives through insurance. This is untrue. Generali has neither been proactive nor played a leading role in improving people’s lives. It has taken no action to stop the scammers at CWM from destroying victims’ lives.
- Protect: We are dedicated to the heart of insurance – managing and mitigating risks of individuals and institutions. Totally untrue. Generali has neither managed nor mitigated victims’ risks. It has totally ignored the risks and simply stood by and watched hundreds of victims lose millions of pounds of their retirement savings.
- Enhance: Generali is also committed to creating value. What value? The only thing Generali is committed to is destroying value – and making money out of it.
- People: We deeply care about our clients’ and our peoples’ lives. For years, Generali has sat back and watched victims’ life savings being lost because of clearly unsuitable and risky structured notes. This demonstrates that Generali cares nothing about the clients and this is yet another black lie.
- Lives: Ultimately, we have an impact on the quality of people’s lives: wealth, safety, advice and service are instrumental in improving people’s chosen way of life for the long term. This is true – Generali has had a huge impact on the quality of hundreds of victims’ lives, by destroying their life savings.
- We tie a long-term contract of mutual trust with our people, clients and stakeholders; all of our work is about improving the lives of our clients. Generali has destroyed rather than improved the lives of clients.
- We commit with discipline and integrity to bringing this promise to life and making an impact within a long lasting relationship. Another black lie. There has been no discipline and no integrity. The impact by Generali has been destructive, toxic and dishonest.
GENERALI RESPONSE TO COMPLAINT DATED 20TH APRIL 2018

Thank you for your email dated 23 February 2018 attaching your updated Letter of Complaint and further accompanying undated cover letter concerning the performance of your Trustees’ Portfolio.

And here we have the first and biggest part of the scam. Generali is trying to make out that the client is not the client – but the pension trustee is the client. The only reason a trustee is used is to comply with HMRC rules. In the UK, HMRC contributes tax relief to help individuals build up as much value as possible in their pensions. But if the fund is transferred offshore, it has to be sent to a QROPS (qualifying, recognised, overseas pension scheme) – otherwise HMRC will charge 55% tax on the transfer. A QROPS is just a wrapper used to hold the funds. The trustee is a custodian used to keep the funds on behalf of the beneficiary – i.e. the member.

It wasn’t the trustee who worked hard for years to build up this fund out of the money he or she earned. Just as it won’t be the trustee who will retire on the income generated by the fund.

Let us look at the risk profile issue. Whose risk profile is done using a fact find? Is it the trustee’s? Is the trustee asked about his assets, liabilities, age, retirement plans? No, of course not. Is the advice to transfer given to the trustee? Negative.

Your complaint is addressed primarily to Old Mutual International (“OMI”) but it asserts that “Generali has acted in exactly the same manner as OMI, so although the complaint below relates to OMI, it is also appropriate for Generali. The problems complained about remain the same in both cases. We therefore respond to all the issues raised in the letter as if they are addressed directly to Generali Worldwide Insurance Company Limited (“Generali Worldwide”), as your complaint clearly intends.

It is clearly evidenced that Generali behaved as badly and negligently as OMI and SEB – and betrayed the victims in exactly the same way.

You have expressed deep concern that the Professional Portfolio has lost a significant proportion of its value because of the actions of the Portfolio Manager, Continental Wealth Management (”CWM”).

And herein lies the second part of the scam. Generali did no due diligence on CWM. They have referred to them as “Portfolio Manager”. But they had no license to be a portfolio manager – and they had a track record of cold calling and being involved in financial crime. So – irrespective of whether Generali thought the client/investor was the trustee or the victim – Generali should never have accepted investment dealing instructions from such a firm.

You also consider that Generali worldwide is ´complicit´ given we allegedly took no steps to stop the actions CWM took at the relevant time. Correct.

We are of course very sorry that the Portfolio has incurred losses following the investment decisions made by CWM. When did this “sorry” state begin? On the 23^rd February 2018 when they received the letter of complaint? Or at some time during the past six years when they sat and watched hundreds of policy holders’ funds being systematically destroyed?

We address the specific issues raised in your letter below.

The Portfolio

In order to address the issues you have raised it is first necessary to consider the relationship between you, the trustee (that you instructed to purchase the Portfolio) and CWM. Don’t forget the life office – Generali – itself. It was an integral part of this scam.

The Portfolio was established by your nominated Pension Trustee Momentum Pensions Malta Limited (“Trustee”) on 30 January 2013. In total you remitted GBP 473,043.29 to the Trustee and they used these monies to purchase the Portfolio, which itself is held in a trust. So Generali admits that it was the member which remitted £473k in the first place.

You are the first life assured on the Portfolio. The Trustee is the legal owner of the Portfolio and, in the first instance, it is they that have suffered the investment losses. So, the member himself hasn’t lost half of his original £473k? Thank goodness! So, if he just redeems out of this useless, exorbitantly expensive insurance bond, he can have all of his £473k back?

The Trustees owe you fiduciary duties in respect of your money “Your money”? So, you are sure it is the victim’s money and not the trustee’s money? You can’t seem to make up your mind whose money it is. I think Generali is getting dementia as it can’t remember what lies it has just told. In one sentence it is the trustee’s money and in the next it is the victim’s.

(which was “settled” into the trust) as basis for remittance into the Portfolio.

As the legal owner of the portfolio, it is the trustee that appointed CWM as the Portfolio Manager pursuant to the Portfolio Management Agreement dated 7 November 2012 (“PMA”). But did you, Generali, not notice that CWM was an unlicensed scammer? And once you started seeing, and reporting on, the huge losses did you not consider you had some responsibility beyond just reporting on the repeated losses for years?

CWM therefore owed contractual duties to the Trustee in Respect of the management of the Portfolio. Yes. And you, Generali, also owed duties to the victim whose money was being frittered away by the scammers. You have admitted it was HIS money.

Issues Raised

The letter of Complaint raises various issues. We consider that these can be summarised as follows:
1. You allege that CWM purchased “high risk, professional-investors-only structures notes” which you consider were unsuitable for your investment risk profile.
2. You allege that CWM gave advice and instructed sales and purchase of investments despite the fact that they were “neither licensed for insurance nor for investment”.
3. You have raised an issue with what you consider were the high commissions paid to CWM.
4. You have alleged that you were not informed of the level of charges that would be taken pursuant to the portfolio´s terms and conditions.
5. You allege that your signatures were “repeatedly forged on the dealing instructions”.
6. Finally you agree CWM made misrepresentations to you about the losses you were incurring.
You have also stated that OMI, and therefore we assume Generali Worldwide, have “facilitated financial crime over a period of many years”. You have asked that Generali Worldwide “own up to the financial damage and crime it has facilitated over a period in excess of eight years” and compensate you for the losses the Portfolio has suffered.

Portfolio Management Agreement

The PMA (enclosed), authorised fees for the portfolio management services as rendered (being 1% per annum of the Investment Value). And, as we know, this is Generali’s way of clawing back the 8% commission paid to the scammers. There was no “portfolio management”. Had there been any kind of management, this would have included doing something about the inexorable losses rather than just sitting there watching this victim’s losses mounting over a period of years. Bearing in mind he was one of many in the same boat, this makes it doubly disgusting that Generali took no action. You must have been aware that this victim – along with all the hundreds of others – had their life savings used to purchase professional-investor-only and high-risk structured notes.

As such, all instructions in relation to your Trustees´ Portfolio were properly issued by CWM, which we acted properly on in accordance with the PMA. Not true. The members’ signatures were forged. That is fraud. And you, Generali, facilitated financial crime.

Please note that Generali Worldwide is not a party to (or aware of) any commission arrangements between CWM and any investment product issuers. Really? Did you think CWM was just selling these toxic products for fun? You didn’t consider that as the only reason for selling the insurance bond was for the 8% commission, there might be another 8% commission for selling the structured notes?

In appointing CWM as the portfolio manager under the PMA, the Trustee expressly warranted that it would be bound by the decisions of CWM and recognised that CWM were acting for them, not Generali Worldwide. Furthermore, in appointing CWM the Trustees agreed that Generali Worldwide “shall not be liable for any damages, losses, costs or expenses to the Plan assets arising from the appointment of, or the investment instructions given by the Portfolio Manager. There is an interesting parallel here. The CWM scammers all say the same thing: “it wasn’t my fault; I didn’t do anything wrong; it was the others”

This will include, without limitation, any action or failure to take actions on the part of the Portfolio Manager to produce a reasonable investment return, in relation to the plan. So, you are saying that it is reasonable for Generali to have just sat there and said/done nothing about the losses for years? You could see millions of pounds’ worth of life savings getting wiped out routinely and yet you did nothing to help the hundreds of victims. Your website claims that Generali “protects, manages and mitigates risks”. So that is obviously another lie.

The Trustee also agreed to “indemnify (Generali Worldwide) against any and all liability it may incur, as a consequence of, or arising from or in respect of the appointment, activities and performance of the Portfolio Manager…” But did the victim agree to indemnify Generali? You have already admitted that it was HIS money. On the Generali website it states: “Meeting your financial needs: Effective wealth management, investment and pension options that can successfully cater for the diverse needs of global investors”. So do the words “effective” and “successfully” include sitting back and doing nothing about the losses? Generali could have picked up the phone and spoken to the trustee and/or the victim (depending on which party you considered “owned” the money that day) and said something along the following lines:

“Look, mate, we’ve been having a bit of a look at this portfolio. We’ve spotted that over the past couple of years it has halved in value. We’ve also checked up on the adviser, CWM, and we’ve realised the firm is not licensed to give investment advice and is operating illegally in Spain. We’ve also found out that it has been scamming people for years. We’ve also noticed that 100% of the investments are toxic, high-risk structured notes which are FOR PROFESSIONAL INVESTORS ONLY. We’ve also realised that the combination of failed investments and our own huge charges are eventually going to wipe this (and many other) portfolios out altogether. Do you think we ought to do something? Or shall we just sit here and let it happen?”

Continental Wealth Management

CWM are an independent firm of brokers, No they were not. In Spain it is illegal to work as a broker – whether for insurance or investments – without a license. CWM had no license.

entirely distinct from Generali Worldwide. Under Guernsey law, Generali Worldwide is prohibited from appointing agents in the sale of its policies. Guernsey law is irrelevant. CWM was based in Spain. It is only Spanish law that counts. Generali should have checked up to see whether CWM was licensed and when it discovered it had no license, Generali should have refused to accept any further investment instructions from the firm.

CWM owed duties to you / the trustee alone in recommending the Portfolio and providing suitable financial advice prior to its purchase. I wish you would make up your mind. You can’t seem to decide whether it is the victim or the trustee who is the client/investor. And now you are trying to make out it is both.

It is CWM, not Generali Worldwide, that had a duty to advise you / the Trustee of the suitability of the portfolio and its terms, including the relevant fees. At the time of the trustee´s application, Generali Worldwide were not party to the discussions regarding your chosen risk profile. Whose risk profile? The victim’s or the trustee’s?

CWM are solely responsible for any advice provided to you / the Trustee. It is a common misunderstanding that Independent Financial Advisers and similar Intermediaries are “representatives” of the insurer even though as a matter of law that is not the case in circumstances such as these. CWM was indeed responsible for the scam which Generali facilitated. But CWM was not licensed to provide anybody, whether the victim or the trustee, with either insurance or investment advice. And yet Generali accepted hundreds – possibly thousands – of investment dealing instructions from them. And when the victims started losing millions of pounds, Generali never questioned whether this unlicensed advice was going terribly wrong.

If you believe that relevant information about your Portfolio was either misrepresented or not properly explained to you / the Trustee at the time of the application you should seek redress directly with CWM or your Trustee. Again, legally, if there is an issue with the portfolio itself, which is denied, the correct person to complain to Generali Worldwide is the Trustee. In turn, the trustee owes you fiduciary duties in respect of the money you provided to them on trust. Just like all the scammers at CWM: it is everybody else’s fault but not theirs. The issue with the portfolio itself was that it served no purpose except to pay commission to the scammers – and provided no protection or benefit to the victims whatsoever. Indeed, the Generali wrapper simply made matters considerably worse by constantly eroding what little was left of the ever-dwindling funds with the constant quarterly charges.

In respect of the allegations that CWM misrepresented the performance of the Portfolio, again this is a matter for CWM, and their successors in title, to address. Generali Worldwide are not party to the updates that were provided. However, we note that you had access to our Online Service Centre where it was possible to view the performance of the Portfolio at any time. But didn’t Generali view the performance of this portfolio – and hundreds of others – and question what the hell was going on with all the CWM victims?

Regarding the instructions from CWM and any “forged signatures”, we comment that all the instructions received by Generali Worldwide from CWM were properly executed by them as the portfolio manager. Does Generali seriously believe that an unlicensed firm, operating illegally in Spain, was executing millions of pounds’ worth of dealing instructions (most of which resulted in huge losses) “properly”? This is an unbelievable statement.

Given their status as portfolio manager, any instruction only needs to bear their signature (or alternatively the signature of the Trustees). Signatures of the life assured are not required, as there is no contractual relationship between Generali Worldwide and the lives assured (and consequently the lives assured do not have authority to issue dealing instructions). We are not able to comment on whether the other signatures that appear on the instruction were forged. However given the PMA, it is Generali Worldwide´s position that it was the signature of CWM (or the trustee) which validate the instructions. CWM had no status as portfolio manager. Neither the firm nor the individuals were licensed. No dealing instructions should have been accepted from them EVER, under any circumstances whatsoever. Why do you think Malta has just made changes to the regulations to stop this from happening again?

Notwithstanding this, we are concerned to note any potential allegations of fraudulent activity and would encourage you to escalate any issue in this regard to the competent authorities, as necessary. Generali has facilitated financial crime – irresponsibly and negligently. Generali is being reported to the competent authorities.

Contractual Terms and Conditions

The Portfolio is governed by and constructed in accordance with Guernsey law, with contract acceptance (and policy issuance) having taken place in Guernsey. Your Trustee´s application was accepted in good faith in Guernsey on an unsolicited basis in 2013. Based on completion of the application your Trustee thereby confirmed their acceptance, and understanding of the portfolio´s Terms and Conditions. But who is the client? The trustee or the victim. Generali seems to change its mind depending on what argument it is trying to make. The broker and the owner of the funds were based in Spain (and the trustee in Malta) so Guernsey law is irrelevant.

As noted in section 10 of the terms and conditions (enclosed), your Trustee and Portfolio Manager are responsible for investment decisions and any choice of Investment Instruments is entirely at your Trustee´s own risk and it is they that had oversight over the investment settings made. Generali Worldwide accepts no liability for the performance of investment instruments or for losses, damages or costs arising out of, or in connection with Generali Worldwide subscribing to, or otherwise acquiring an interest in an Investment Instrument for allocation to the Portfolio. You will also appreciate that Generali Worldwide was not party to the advice provided to you (or the Trustee), or the rationale for investment decisions made by CWM in respect of the Portfolio (which we note is described in your covering letter). Again, Generali can’t make up its mind whether the client is the victim or the trustee. Either way, this argument seems to make it clear that there was absolutely no point whatsoever in having an insurance bond at all. It provided no protection and only served to hasten the destruction of the funds.

In respect of the portfolio´s fees and charges, these are laid out in section 15 of the enclosed Terms and Conditions. In signing the application form dated 7 November 2012 your Trustee confirmed that they understood the Terms and Conditions. So, it was all the trustee’s fault? But what were these fees and charges for? For sitting there and doing nothing about the destruction of the funds and facilitating financial crime? Under the terms of the contract for this so-called life assurance policy, generali stands to earn £47,304.33 – but for doing what exactly? Bugger all as far as I can see.

It was CWM´s duty to advise the Trustee as well as yourself in respect of the Portfolio´s Terms and Conditions. But CWM was not licensed to give advice – so how could it?

We therefore consider the contractual terms associated with the fees and charges in relation to the Portfolio to be clear. I agree: it is 100% clear that the contract is for Generali to pay a huge commission to a known firm of unlicensed scammers, and to charge quarterly fees to provide no protection or management or mitigation of risks (as falsely claimed on the Generali website).

Discussions with the Trustee and Trafalgar

We have corresponded with both your Trustee and Trafalgar International GmbH (Trafalgar) following your complaint. Given that CWM have entered into liquidation, we understand that Trafalgar have now taken on any liability for the actions of CWM (and are in turn licensed in Germany). So, yet again it is everybody else’s fault and responsibility – except Generali’s.

From publicly available information we have seen that Trafalgar have engaged with your Trustee to try to provide a solution to the issues that they and their beneficiaries face as a result of CWM´s actions. We have also confirmed this directly with representatives of your Trustees and Trafalgar/GlobalNet. We also note from our files that CWM have previously recognised it was their actions that led to some of the losses on the Portfolios and made offers to compensate the beneficiaries. What relevance does this have? This is a complaint against Generali – not a complaint against CWM. The CWM scammers are long gone and the company is worthless.

We have written to Trafalgar regarding your complaint. But this is about a complaint against Generali. What is the point of Generali writing to Trafalgar? Trafalgar didn’t operate this insurance bond. Trafalgar wasn’t on the scene in 2013.

They have told us that they have been trying to provide redress to the former clients of CWM and will respond formally to us in this regard. As yet we have not received any further correspondence from them and we are following up further for any updates. Yet again, Generali is just trying to deflect attention from their own lies and failings. But at least there is a tacit acknowledgement that redress is not only required, but that Trafalgar is trying to provide it (with no help from Generali).

Conclusion

Again, we are very sorry to learn that your Trustee´s Portfolio has suffered the losses you described. We understand that this is a source of deep concern for you and the other former clients of CWM that have been adversely affected. However based on the above, regrettably Generali Worldwide is unable to provide the requested redress. Presumably, if the losses are to be borne by the trustees, then the victim can have all his money back? This constant banging on about the trustee “suffering the losses” is pointless. If it is really true, then as Generali has acknowledged that the victim owns the money, then give it back to him. In full.

CWM advised your Trustee in respect of the purchase of the Portfolio and its management pursuant to the PMA. But was not licensed to do so – and therefore did so illegally.

We repeat that CWM are not an agent of Generali Worldwide. Any fees, charges or commissions are in line with the Portfolio´s Terms and Conditions which we consider are clear. It was CWM´s responsibility to explain these to you / the Trustee at the time of their application. But it is also clear that CWM was not licensed, so this is irrelevant.

The Trustees are entirely responsible for any losses incurred on the Portfolio as a result of the actions undertaken by CWM. Generali Worldwide were not a party to any alleged misrepresentations regarding the Portfolio´s performance. All instructions received from CWM were valid and pursuant to the terms on the PMA. Does the PMA specifically state that instructions can be accepted “validly” from unlicensed, known scammers who are trading illegally? Perhaps when your pants catch fire, you’d like to go to an unqualified, unlicensed scammer posing as a doctor?

At no point did Generali Worldwide act improperly, and there is no contractual basis for deviating from the contract terms nor is there any justification for compensation from Generali Worldwide. So, you are acknowledging that there is absolutely no point whatsoever in having a Generali insurance bond? And admitting that the claims made on the Generali website are false?

Our purpose is to actively protect and enhance people’s lives

We play a proactive and leading role in improving people’s lives through insurance.
- We are dedicated to the heart of insurance – managing and mitigating risks of individuals and institutions.
- Generali is also committed to creating value
- We deeply care about our clients’ and our peoples’ lives
- We have an impact on the quality of people’s lives: wealth, safety, advice and service are instrumental in improving people’s chosen way of life for the long term.
For the avoidance of Doubt Generali Worldwide strenuously denies that we have committed or facilitated any financial crimes as alleged. But throughout this absurd denial, Generali has indeed admitted repeatedly that it has facilitated financial crime by placing so much emphasis and responsibility at the feet of an unlicensed firm of scammers operating illegally in Spain.

This complaint, and the ridiculous response by Generali, will now be referred to the Financial Crime Unit in Jersey as well as the:

Channel Islands Financial Ombudsman

PO Box 114

Jersey,

Channel Islands JE4 9QG

Email: enquiries@ci-fo.org

Website: www.ci-fo.org

Jersey phone: 01534 748610

Guernsey phone: 01481 722218

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

What is a Pension Scam?
May 11, 2018
I’d rather have a cup of tea than sex – Boy George

I’D RATHER HAVE A CUP OF TEA THAN SEX – Boy George

BG had a point. A cuppa can be enjoyed without taking your clothes off or getting your hair messed up. Plus you can easily do it with people you haven’t quite made up your mind about.

This is my dilemma. I am enormously popular with solicitors and I have two potential new best friends: Carter Ruck and DWF Solicitors. They both want to be my friends but I have to chose both of them, half of them or neither of them.

So I’ve decided to invite them both to my kitchen for a cup of tea and a few fruity tarts. Firstly, I will make it clear that it is my kitchen – my rules. And I shall expect good manners and elegant waggling of their pinkies.

Secondly, I will impress upon both of them that while I can friend them, I can just as easily unfriend them. The rules of my kitchen include: no smoking; no belching and no farting.

I have had many friends among the legal community over the past few years. You can see why they enjoy writing to me – scammers pay them huge amounts to engage with me. (Rather than the fact that they enjoy being my pal).

Assisting me in my quest to decide whether to accept either of these guys as my “new bestie” will be my Toy Poodle Tigga, who will hump the leg of the one he likes best. It is not so much what Tigga does, but how the lawyers react – and whether they deal with such a situation with elegance and class.

It must be declared that, actually, DWF does start out with a huge disadvantage. In 2015 they were acting for the Insolvency Service in the winding up of Imperial Trustees in the matter of the Capita Oak scam. But they were also acting for Stephen Ward of Premier Pension Solutions – the transfer administrator for the Capita Oak scam. I did point out that this was a bit of a conflict of interests (to various parties). Shortly after, DWF was dropped as legal representative to the Insolvency Service.

Another thing against DWF is that a couple of years back, a group of 20 lawyers left the firm for Trowers and Hamlins. Not exactly a confidence-inspiring event in the reputation of the (DWF) firm.

As we are an all-girls’ team at Pension Life (except for Tigga) we only have one loo. And that has framed letters from a number of my other favourite lawyer chums on the walls. It remains to be seen which of these two new candidates will end up on the toilet wall and which will be told to “Ruck” off.

One lump or two? (Or perhaps three?)

May 10, 2018

Holborn Assets Cambodia Convention & Summit 2019

I am disappointed that Holborn Assets didn’t invite me to their Tanzania convention extravaganza – as it sounds like it was a lot of fun. And I do enjoy the occasional glass of Babycham and a nibble on a tiny sausage.

But I am hoping to be invited to the next one in Cambodia in 2019. As that is where Continental Wealth Management’s Darren Kirby has been hiding for the past few months, perhaps he’ll be popping in for a wee drinkie and a quick snort.

Apparently, the fun I missed included Holborn Assets’ scammer Nick Thompson being comatose the whole time. And Thompson showed up one morning with a black eye (was he pushed or did he fall?).

I also gather that the salesmen were threatening each other with knives. I am sure that was just some good-natured teasing and not some predatory tussle over territories or clients. Heaven forfend!

It has also been reported that the “advisers” at the party were openly crushing and smoking Xanac tablets. Apparently, Bob Parker stood by and just let this happen. I guess if all he is interested in is optimum sales he doesn’t really care how his snake-oil salesmen behave in public.

The motivation for being invited to the Holborn Assets booze/snort fest is described by Bob Parker thus:

Here we are at the end of Q1: if you are on $200k or more you are on target for Summit, and $75k or more puts you on target for Convention. By mid-April, we had 65 advisers with over $75k written – so this will be our biggest Convention yet! And, when it comes to laying on the big time, we know what goes off with a bang:

But what troubles me somewhat is that there is no mention of quality. Only volume. And Holborn Assets has no compliance function – so what Parker is exhorting his snake-oil salesmen to do is sell $200k of toxic investments in order to get invited to a seedy party where everybody gets drunk or stoned or both. Some inducement!

Apparently, Holborn Assets salesman Stefan Terry is leading the race in having a team who can scam victims out of their retirement savings and is well ahead with a total sales by end of Q1 of $1.2 million. I wonder how many people that means have lost their life savings?

This means that the “top teams” have written $8.5 million worth of business up to the end of March 2018. I wonder how many people’s lives have been ruined as a result of that scamming spree?

Holborn Assets cold-called thousands of potential victims in recent years, and persuaded many to transfer their pensions unnecessarily. The victims generally had good pension plans already but with the persuasion of the cold callers, they agreed to let Holborn Assets work their “magic” on their funds. The magic was investing the funds into toxic, high-risk investments such as New Earth Recycling and toxic structured notes, as well as applying sky-high fees for the privilege of losing some or all of the money.

And the Holborn Assets “crew” want to celebrate this amazing achievement and encourage their snake-oil salesmen to destroy as many more lives as possible.

Here’s the announcement of Holborn Assets’ next booze’n drugs fest:

“For Cambodia Convention & Summit 2019, we’re heading straight for the record books! We’re committing to more investment than ever before, more winners than ever before, and more planning than our 3 previous Conventions put together.”

Committing to more investment than ever before! Personally, I wouldn’t call that an investment, I would call it an obvious attempt to incentivise the Holborn Assets army of slimy salesmen to con as many victims into losing their life savings as possible. The amount spent on the last convention in Tanzania was somewhere in the region of £500,000. And I hear they will almost double this in 2019.

What I´d like to know is, if Holborn Assets have got all this spare cash to throw at booze and drugs, why aren´t they paying redress to their victims? At the Tanzania convention, unlimited supplies of booze were available 24/7, with advisors spending much of the duration in a booze-induced haze. These are the same “advisors” being entrusted with people’s precious life savings.

Tanzania was Holborn Assets’ third major convention. They boasted “We’re really getting the hang of putting conventions together. And then some! Like many of you, I have experienced similar FTSE 100 company events (with all the money that can be thrown at them), but none have matched the attention to detail and delivery of Holborn Conventions.”

Maybe they will one day get the hang of learning how to give sound and prudent advice on pensions and investments – and have an effective compliance function. And it would be nice if they had paid some degree of attention to detail when they were investing victims’ life savings into high-risk, illiquid, toxic funds.

Holborn Assets claims: “We are a family company with family values.” If “family values” means lying, defrauding, conning and walking away from the devastation left behind, this is one “family party” I definitely don´t want to be involved in. Bob Parker has brought his kids up to commit financial crime. That is not a family value any decent person would endorse.

Bob Parker has also lied about paying £150k in compensation to his victim Glynis Broadfoot. She has never received a penny from Holborn Assets for the destruction of her pension.

Just to be clear, the Holborn Assets “advisers” tagged in this blog are all those announced by Parker as being the top snake-oil salesmen.

TAGGED:

Tyrone Skipper

Craig Turner

Veena Singh

Adrian Lyons

Joseph Barnaby

Alexander Herbert

May 10, 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
Protecting your pension fund from pension vampires

Protect your pension fund at all costs. Pension “vampires” disguised as friendly and legitimate pension advisers are still out there – prowling the land trying to find victims. Ever evolving and changing their strategies to seduce you into transferring your pension fund, often into a high-risk, toxic investment that rewards them with high commission but leaves your pension fund and your health frazzled.

Pension vampires are very good at wearing disguises AND their credible eloquence and charming manner are sure to get your attention. This is why here at Pension Life we want to raise public awareness to discourage individuals from being drawn in by the vampires’ compelling sales techniques. We want victims to learn how to protect your pension fund.

Con artists and pension scammers love to cold call and give the impression they are official government representatives or fully qualified and regulated advisers. They are very clever at worming their way into victims’ homes and setting these vulnerable people up to get scammed out of their pensions.

THIS SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN

If you are cold called – please just hang up.

Much like a vampire, once you have invited them into your life, it is very difficult to get rid of them. They will trick you into transferring you pension fund into their care – often with promises of high returns and low risk. In reality, they will bleed you dry.

What these pension vampires leave out of their convincing sales pitch is the high commission charges they will add every time they put your fund into a new or different investment. Often the commission charges heavily outweigh the interest that will be applied to the investment should it be successful.

Pension vampires hunt in packs and the first one you meet will NOT be the last. Often the first pension vampire will introduce you to several others. Each one will want to have a suck on your fund. This type of pension scam is called fractional scamming its happening more and more. Please have a look at our previous blog on fractional scammers for more information on how this type of scam works.

Pension vampires not only use cold calling techniques, they also send emails and use the postal system. The content is usually the same – they offer you a free pension review.

Nothing in life comes for free – the review may seem to be free but what comes after will be devastating to your pension fund and your health.

Pete and Val fell victim to pension vampires using a pension liberation scam – here’s the tragic story of how their pension fund was left decimated by a firm of unlicensed so-called advisers: Continental Wealth Management.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up to date on new Pension Life videos.

(more…)

May 2, 2018
Maltese QROPS regulations to change
Malta has announced changes to the way their QROPS funds will be regulated. The changes will come into effect from 2^nd July 2018, meaning that clients introduced by an adviser regulated only for insurance business will not be accepted as an investment adviser.

A letter this week from STM Malta reads:

“We are writing to inform you of some changes to Malta regulations which we believe will have a significant impact on the way that you conduct your pensions business in Malta. Whilst the final guidelines have yet to be published, it is anticipated that the changes will be brought into effect from 2^nd July 2018. With these changes in mind, we felt it is a good idea that we commence discussions regarding how this will impact on some of our processes going forward.

In particular, the changes will require:
- An expectation of further oversight from pension trustees in relation to investment selections by members as recommended by advisers;
- A mandated restriction on investment in structured notes to 30% of a member’s portfolio with a maximum of 20% per issuer;
- A restriction on those permitted to give advice in relation to investment selection to advisers authorised to give investment advice via MIFID or equivalent regime. For clarity and from discussions with the regulator, we understand that a licence to advise on insurance products will not be considered an equivalent regime; and
- A requirement that Pension Trustees obtain and maintain information about the fitness and propriety of investment advisers selected by clients.
From the consultation process, we understand that the Regulator has experienced a number of complaints in relation to pensions and these changes are intended to address these issues.”

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Whilst this is an enormous step in the right direction for Malta, they are not the only country offering QROPS and therefore here at Pension Life we are calling for these regulations to be applied worldwide.

The lists here show that there are 28 other countries offering QROPS schemes. I can’t help but feel that unregulated (for investments) advisory firms will just change countries and continue to offer unregulated investment advice to innocent victims – but using QROPS in other jurisdictions.

Furthermore the decision has been made and announced, but will not come into place until 2nd July. That is nine weeks away. That’s 45 working days, 63 if they work weekends, that the unregulated advisers have to slog their guts out and get as many new “clients” to transfer their hard-earned funds – and invest them into unregulated, high risk, toxic investments. This may be the last opportunity to earn huge commissions in Malta. Then I guess these firms can have a wee holiday until they decide how best to alter the way they work.

STM’s letter goes on to state:

“Going forward we will need to fill the advice gap that is created and it occurs to us that there are two possible options for advisers going forward:

a) The adviser upgrades the license to become a regulated Investment Adviser; or

b) The investment is selected through a Discretionary Fund Manager which is a regulated Investment Manager”

What worries me is that the advisers with only an insurance license will be able to go on to become regulated, “upgraded” as the letter states, to fill the gap, so the process may be made easier for them.
- In response to the four changes reported by STM, I can see no mention of their past failures on a grand scale to carry out even the most basic due diligence on advisers or investments. STM has said nothing about the disastrous consequences of its own negligence – particularly in the case of the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund;
- A restriction on investment in structured notes to 30% of a member’s portfolio with a maximum of 20% per issuer is still way too high – about 30% too high (and what about UCIS funds?);
- Restrictions on those permitted to give investment advice will need to be firmly policed. Firms with only an insurance license will inevitably try to continue as before. How will this be reported? And what action will be taken if trustees continue to accept dealing instructions from firms with no investment license? (A slap on the wrist with a soggy kipper?); and
- How will Pension Trustees decide whether investment advisers are fit and proper? One man’s fit and proper could be another man’s dodgy dealer.
One Pension Trustee in Malta told me recently that a grave concern of the industry is that firms who abide by the letter of the changes will lose out to firms that ignore them. This will set up an unequal competitive edge for those who interpret the new regulations more “loosely”. So, to make sure this new regime doesn’t end up as a bag of chocolate balls, the Maltese regulator has got to keep on his toes.

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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 regulated scheme. Get all the information in writing and get a third party to double check the details.

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May 1, 2018

Tag: Pension Life

For the future, Angie hopes things will get better and that the war on pension and investment scams can be won. However, much help is needed and Angie calls for the whole industry to get involved and make it their business to know what is happening to expats worldwide.

Here at Pension Life we have made a video – based on the Mastermind quiz. Lessons must be learned from the dozens of scams, headed by Stephen Ward, which ruined thousands of lives and destroyed hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of pensions.

Mastermind – Stephen Ward

I am happy to say I have a good relationship with Lesley Titcomb – Head of tPR – and am grateful to Henry Tapper for facilitating this.

So, if anybody knows anyone at the FCA who might like to do a bit of regulating no more than twice a week, could they please let me know?

What we need now is all of the scammers behind bars and the keys thrown away.

Either way the one thing we can be sure of is that it has to stop NOW.

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 financial crime:

This is my dilemma. I am enormously popular with solicitors and I have two potential new best friends: Carter Ruck and DWF Solicitors. They both want to be my friends but I have to chose both of them, half of them or neither of them.

One lump or two? (Or perhaps three?)

“For Cambodia Convention & Summit 2019, we’re heading straight for the record books! We’re committing to more investment than ever before, more winners than ever before, and more planning than our 3 previous Conventions put together.”

OLD MUTUAL INTERNATIONAL HYPOCRISY OVER NEW MALTA REGULATIONS

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):

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

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.

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

Structured Notes will not be accepted.

Whilst this is an enormous step in the right direction for Malta, they are not the only country offering QROPS and therefore here at Pension Life we are calling for these regulations to be applied worldwide.

The lists here show that there are 28 other countries offering QROPS schemes. I can’t help but feel that unregulated (for investments) advisory firms will just change countries and continue to offer unregulated investment advice to innocent victims – but using QROPS in other jurisdictions.