Tag: PENSIONS REGULATOR

Pay back due from fraudulent pension firms

2,000 victims of fraudulent pension firms may be in with a chance of getting their funds back. In November, the FCA pushed for legal proceedings to go ahead against collapsed firm Avacade Limited, trading as Avacade Investment Options; and Alexandra Associates (UK) Limited, trading as Avacade Future Solutions.

Past prosecutions made by the FCA:

In 2016, the FCA proposed Alistar Burns of TaylorMade International should face a fine of £233,600, along with a ban. Earlier this year the case was seen in the Upper Tribunal, whilst upholding the ban, they chosen to lower the fine to £60,000. Here I believe the FCA made a good strong decision, but the Upper Tribunal then let them down by reducing the fine.

Court proceedings against Capital Alternatives have been taking place since July 2013. The FCA alleged that Capital Alternatives used “false, misleading and deceptive statements” to lure unsuspecting investors into four toxic, high-risk investments (scams) between 2009 and 2013. Despite the High Court deciding in February 2014 that the schemes/scams were collective investment schemes, only two out of the sixteen defendants in this case have made settlements. Since this date, the other defendants have been appealing the decision and no other monies has been recouped.

This case demonstrates the problems surrounding prosecutions made, often the funds that have been scammed can not be located. Or the scammers hire good lawyers and squander money away by appealing the decisions again and again, causing massive delays on payback. Victims of Fast Pensions are also stuck with this problem.

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£86 million worth of pension funds were taken by Avacade and Alexandra Associates, and placed into Liberty SIPPS and then invested into dodgy investment schemes such as tree plantations.

It is not yet know how much of the pensioners´ money has been lost. However, it is clear that Alexandra Associates was not licensed to carry out the advice given.

Craig Lummis, Lee Lummis and Raymond Fox are named in the legal proceedings for being “knowingly concerned” in the alleged wrongdoing of Avacade and Alexandra Associates. The court has ordered that any wealth held by the companies should be used to compensate the victims.

Once again, this case highlights unregulated introducers – Alexandra Associates – posing as qualified financial advisory firms, offering “free pensions advice” to lure in unsuspecting victims. In many of my blogs, I try to raise awareness of this trick: nothing in life comes for free. Often, firms offering this “free review”, will be rogue firms. Whilst the review may well come for free, there are often undisclosed fees and costs that will be imposed on the value of your pension fund – often making a large dent in your savings.

Unfortunately for the victims, they will not notice these – usually higher than average – fees until it is too late. Pension Life has many blogs that can help you to avoid being scammed, recommending the right questions to ask your adviser – before you sign your precious pension fund over.

You can also read blogs that will help you know what qualifications your adviser should have in order to be in an educated and qualified position to legally advise you on a pension transfer and pension investments. If in doubt, you can say “NO” and walk away from the deal, providing you have not signed anything (although there should be a 30-day cooling off period). Try reading up on past scams and becoming familiar with the names of scammers working in the pensions field.

Mark Steward, director of enforcement at the City regulator, said:

“The FCA is seeking injunctions, declarations and restitution orders to prevent further breaches in schemes which were unlawfully promoted to the public using false, misleading and deceptive statements.”

What a relief to hear this statement being made by an employee of the FCA (about blooming time!). Pension Life has long been waiting for the FCA to pull their finger out and start prosecuting pension scammes. With positive action like this, we could have had all the pension scammers locked up by Christmas and the victims´ monies returned to them. I’m sure that those who have lost so much to these crooks would be over the moon to be able to tell their families that they are once again financially secure (rather than financially ruined).

I have a long list of fraudulent pension firms and serial scammers that I plan to forward to the FCA (yet again). However, in reality, I do wonder how many cases the FCA can actually deal with in one year. Given their past track record, I’d say this is their annual big bust. The other scammers are safe and the victims will be left to wait and wonder when their cases will be dealt with.

On the plus side, the FCA have certainly had a busy month. Alongside their prosecutions, they have launched their ScamSmart campaign, teaming up with The Pensions Regulator. The campaign encourages people who are concerned that they may have been approached by fraudsters to report it via the ScamSmart website. It also raises awareness about checking that the firms consumers are using are regulated to provide the advice they are offering.

Read Pension Life´s blog about the SmartScam campaign.

September 11, 2018
FCA launches new ScamSmart campaign

Here at Pension Life, we are constantly trying to raise awareness about pension scams. The Financial Conduct Authority – FCA – has also been busy. Pairing up with the Pensions Regulator – tPR – they have published the ScamSmart campaign with the slogan – Be ScamSmart with your pension.

With the ScamSmart campaign, they have also made a video and published it on YouTube. Here is the video for you to watch:

Whilst I think it is great that they are publishing videos as part of the ScamSmart campaign, I can´t help but feel that they spent a large chunk of their budget on some bloke whizzing around on a jet ski.

The video does highlight what people need to look out for to be ScamSmart, but the repeated flashes back to the jet skier whooping loudly are, in my opinion, very distracting. I feel they deviate from the message they are trying to get across.

I would like to highlight that the rider of the jet ski does bear a remarkable resemblance to Phillip Nunn, cold caller and “fund manager” of the Blackmore Global investment scam. Blackmore Global was promoted by David Vilka of Square Mile International – David Vilka´s firm is not regulated to provide pensions and investment advice. However, he has never been prosecuted by the FCA for his involvement in this scam.

Phillip Nunn´s lawyers, Slater and Gordon, threatened Angie with defamation proceedings for exposing Nunn’s scamtivities. The video made by Pension Life in response to this reveals three serial scammers, two of which are still free to scam, while the other one: Peter Moat of Fast Pensions (who has had legal proceeding filed against him) is nowhere to be seen.

However, the FCA has done nothing to stop these scammers, nor other well-known ones and no prosecutions have been made. Whilst we are fully in support of educating the masses worldwide to ensure consumers can avoid falling victim to pension scams, this does beg the question:

WHY ARE THE FCA DOING NOTHING ABOUT THE KNOWN SCAMMERS?!?

If the industry was to put a stop to the masterminds, (like Stephen Ward), then surely that would be a giant leap in the right direction for deterring new-comers. As it stands, however, the “award-winning” scammers just seem to set a precedent. If you are good at what you do, your scams can be pushed under the carpet and you can live a life of luxury on the hard-earned cash of the scam victims, escaping punishment.

September 11, 2018
Katar Investment Weapons
Katar Investments say they give UK and overseas investment advice in a simple way. However, the types of investment opportunities they are offering are, unfortunately, once again, making my red beacon flash. So, with Déjà vu, let me tell you why. Please make sure you are comfy, this might take a while!

Firstly, I had a quick look into their team. In my opinion, you would hope that some of the people advertising about giving you advice on investments would hold some sort of financial qualification. However, out of the five team members listed only one mentions a background in finance, the others only list sales experience.

I had a quick check on the registers to see if the one team member who states she has 10 years´ experience in the financial sector, holds any qualifications with the CII, CISI etc. – she did not appear to have any registered financial qualifications.

Now, forgive me if I am slightly biased and ever so critical when it comes to firms giving investment advice, but I would hope that any firm giving me advice on what to invest in, would have a team of fully qualified financial advisers. Not just sales experts. Or am I just being fussy?

Katar Investments state:

“Whether you are looking for a steady income investment, a property investment with high capital growth and a quick turn around of your capital or an opportunity in the latest emerging market, we have something to offer you.

We are highly committed to our investors and are focussed (their spelling mistake – not mine) on delivering a level of customer service which is above and beyond. So rest assured our agents will strive to provide you a class A service when you Invest with Katar Investments.”

I feel that the salespeople who work for Katar Investments may well be driven solely by earning high commissions when it comes to offering class A services. But, again, maybe I am biased! Let’s move on to what investments they offer.

Gatwick – Apart Hotel – This is a serviced apartment/Hotel investment with a minimum investment of 72,500 GBP. The figure states “from”, so I assume you can throw a bit more in for good measure. The promised outcomes:
- 12 Months rental paid in advance
- Rental protected by Insurance
- 5 Years Rental 8%
- 2% profit paid on exchange deposit during refurbishment
- 7 days free stay subject to 1 months notice
- Buy back at 110% after 10 years
- 40% Finance on units over £140,000
- Luxury furniture pack included with every purchase
- Completion date: March 2019
This is a fixed term investment of 10 years and it has not been built yet (check the completion date). To me, an investment like this would ring alarm bells, as you are purchasing property that has yet to be completed. All sorts of hiccups could occur before the investment was up and running. An illiquid, high-risk investment, only for those who can afford a potential loss on the funds used.

Office investment in the Kingdon of Fife – Another illiquid and fixed-term investment, although slightly lower in price than the Gatwick offer.
- Structured exit plan at 10 and 15 years
This means your money is trapped for an awfully long time. If the market sways, you could be set for a loss and often with fixed-term structured investments there are fees and charges. Investments like this can, if they go wrong, result in you, the investor, falling into negative equity.

Property investments like these, ring similar to that of the Dolphin Trust´s German property investments – high-risk, unregulated, non-standard “assets”. An awful lot of pension money has been loaned to this company – many DB pensions earned by British Steelworkers were invested here. Introducers saw commissions of up to 25% and in the case of British Steelworkers, Celtic Wealth – who are now in liquidation- were the introducers. The victims do not know where their pension funds are or if they will get any return. Dolphin Trust are still selling their assets, despite the lack of funds being released to mature investors.

EIS marijuana opportunity – Grow Biotec, there is a lot of press going around at the moment into the medical uses of marijuana and possibilities of a change in legislation in the UK. In many states of America, the use of marijuana for medical use has been decriminalized. As an avid supporter of natural remedies and healing through nature, the use of CBD extracted from the marijuana plant interests me immensely, the idea of investing in this potentially lifesaving product does have a certain draw.

But, there is always a but! Since working for Pension Life, any investment opportunity that quotes the word ´bio´ gives me the heebie-jeebies. We have only to look back and remember the Elysian Bio Fuels liberation scam promoted by James Hay. The victims of this scam have been left penniless AND with huge tax bills from HMRC.

Another ´bio´investment disaster was Sustainable Agroenergy (SAE) Plc, investors were told their investments were in biofuel products, that land was owned in Cambodia and planted with Jatropha trees – a tree with highly toxic fruit that could be used to produce biofuel. Unfortunately, the Jatropa trees were not as fruitful as originally thought. The perpetrators, were thankfully convicted of fraud and bribery offenses.

The reasons I doubt this as a good investment are the vague promises and the over promises.

´It is a private offer raising £5 million to develop one of the world’s most valuable portfolios of cannabis-IP assets by 2022.´

What will be the outcome should this £5 million not be made? A possibility of loss of all or part of your investment.

´We are seeking to develop one of the world’s most valuable portfolios of cannabis-IP assets by 2022.´

Meaning this is a fixed-term investment, with potentially no return for at least 4 years, if not longer, AND only if successful.
- Projected high returns: Target return of £50 per £1 invested (not guaranteed)
- EIS Tax relief: up to 50% income tax and capital gains tax relief. Remember tax rules can change and benefits depend on circumstances.
If it sounds too good to be true – it probably is. Plus this figure is not guaranteed and seems to me like it was just plucked out of the sky, nice and high, to lure investors in.

Airport Parking Investments,

These investments are what we in the industry call illiquid. Once your money is in, then it´s pretty hard to get it out quick AND unless the venture does well there will be no return. With regards to pension investments, these are the very worst, toxic assets to invest in.

Unfortunately, they are often the assets which pay handsome investment introduction commissions to the salesperson, and this is why serial scammers, like Ward, love them. They go in with the ´eco-bio´ sale pitch or the glamorous property ownership – withholding the high-risk, fixed-term rules surrounding the investment.

A pension fund is a retail investment that should be placed in a low to medium-risk asset. Fixed terms, high-risk and illiquid investments should be avoided at all costs.

The types of investments offered by Katar Investments are high-risk and illiquid, if you have a spare five grand that you can afford to lose, then go for it: have a cheeky punt on Bio Grow. You may be pleasantly surprised and get the target return of £50 per £1 invested (just remember to duck smartly when those pink things with curly tails fly a bit too close!). However, if your money is dear to you and you cannot afford to lose it, please stay away from shiny pink and green investments like this.

When it comes to your precious pension fund it is always best to air on the side of caution and go for the safe bet. It might not pay the highest interest, however, slow and steady wins the race. Meaning you will be able to enjoy your hard earned pennies in your retirement – stress free.

John Rodgers wishes he had said no to the offers of Continental Wealth Management.
September 11, 2018
Square Mile International Financial Services – qualified and registered?
This week, in my mission to disclose advisory firms´ claims to qualifications (or in fact the lack of them), I am looking into Square Mile International Financial Services – qualified and registered?

What the Square Mile website page says:

Despite referring to their Prague headquarters in a lovely paragraph:

“Square Mile has a dedicated customer care and administrative team based in our headquarters in the beautiful historic Old Town quarter of Prague, in the Czech Republic. Aside from picturesque surroundings, being in the very heart of Europe allows our customer services team to easily service our clients all over Europe, as well as placing us within 90 mins of London’s own ‘Square Mile’ where we have our UK team, and extensive links and partnerships with some of the worlds top financial institutions.”

…their website fails to list their team members, so over to Linkedin to see who the lucky people are.

But, firstly, a bit of background information about Square Mile, just in case you haven´t heard of them.

Square Mile International in Prague is run by David Vilka, a name that has been the star of several other Pension Life blogs. Vilka is linked to the Blackmore Global Investment Fund scam which saw victims’ pensions invested in dodgy AND illegal (for UK residents) UCIS funds. It should also be noted that David Vilka of Square Mile International Financial – was not regulated to give investment advice, but did so anyway.

Vilka transferred at least 65 pensions into a Hong Kong QROPS and then invested them into the Blackmore Global fund, courtesy of Phillip Nunn and Patrick McCreesh of Aspinal Chase. Blackmore Global is an unregulated fund, which has never had an independent audit. Investors fear their pension funds may well be lost, as there is no evidence as to where the money has gone. David Vilka has showed no shame for what he did, and has made no attempt to recover any remainder of his victims´pensions.

So, Square Mile International Financial Services – qualified and registered?

IFAs and their clients are invited to add to this blog, correct it or improve it. Here’s a link to the three registers if you want to double check:

http://www.cii.co.uk/web/app/membersearch/MemberSearch.aspx

https://www.cisi.org/cisiweb2/cisi-website/join-us/cisi-member-directory

https://www.libf.ac.uk/members-and-alumni/sps-and-cpd-register – Claim to a DipFA

Please note that this data is correct as of 29/08/2018.

Staff list for Square Mile International Prague office:
1. David Vilka – Managing Director – DOES NOT APPEAR ON ANY REGISTER – but we knew that already!
2. Alan West – Head of Client Services – DOES NOT APPEAR ON ANY REGISTER
Well, the Square Mile International Prague offices´ dedicated customer care and administrative team´ doesn´t inspire much confidence. Only two staff members are listed – one of them is known to be linked to pension scams – and neither has any financial qualifications!

Square Mile International Financial Services – qualified and registered? 0%

On a final note, this is the statement made on the Square Mile retirement solutions section of their webpage:

´PENSION SCAMS & LIBERATION: BE AWARE– No properly authorised scheme should be able to offer benefits to you before age 55 – any scheme offering this facility or any adviser claiming to be able to do this is almost certainly involved in pension liberation. A bonafide scheme, whether UK or International, will be listed on the HMRC website. There is much sensationalism written about pension scams. The truth is that there are many more very good investments opportunities and very few scams in comparison. Good investments don’t sell newspapers so inevitably the few rotten apples make the headlines. Simple steps such as: checking your adviser is regulated in an EEA jurisdiction and is correctly passported into your jurisdiction, checking the levels of remuneration the adviser will receive, checking the lock-in clauses with the investment scheme and any penalties, and confirming directly with any professional advisers, auditors, or lawyers named on the investment of their involvement. Despite what is written an alternative or esoteric investment as part of a portfolio can reap very good rewards if proper research is undertaken.´

Interestingly, David Vilka (pictured here with John Ferguson, who was also involved in the Blackmore Global scam) is not regulated to give financial advice on pensions or investments, but did so anyway. The Blackmore Global scam victims are locked into a toxic investment fund, that should not have been sold to them as UK residents. Furthermore, they face penalties if they wish to withdraw the little they have left in the fund, as they are locked in for 10 years. No move has been made by any of the perpetrators to help these victims.

Square Mile International should be placed at arm´s length by anyone who wants a secure future for their pension fund.
August 29, 2018
TailorMade International – gets a tailor-made fine reduction

Victims of the unregulated property scheme Harlequin, may be disheartened to know that Alistair Burns has escaped with a reduced fine for his role as chief executive of TailorMade International.

The FCA originally proposed Burns should face a fine of £233,600, along with a ban back in December 2016. However, the Upper Tribunal, whilst upholding the ban, has chosen to lower this to £60,000.

FCA executive director of enforcement and market oversight Mark Steward said: “Mr Burns failed to ensure that TailorMade International managed its conflicts of interest, benefiting financially from his role as shareholder and director at an unregulated introducer alongside his regulated role, to the detriment of his customers.”

Burns co-owned and co-directed the unregulated introducer company operating as ‘TailorMade’. For three years TailorMade provided advice to 1,661 customers transferring them into the unregulated property scheme Harlequin.

Burns received “significant amounts of commission” from Harlequin for the customers that were advised into the scheme through TailorMade. It was found that pension holders were offered totally unsuitable advice to enter into the SIPPS scheme, which lined Burns´ pockets but saw victims´ funds invested into risky overseas property.

The FCA stated “Our action sends a strong message that failing to manage conflicts of interest fairly and disclose them clearly is completely unacceptable.“

To date, compensation totaling more than £55.6m has been paid by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in relation to claims upheld against TailorMade. This does not cover all the losses suffered by investors, which the FSCS assesses at more than £106.5m.”

This is a welcome prosecution in the battle against unregulated pension scammers. However, this does beg the question as to why the Upper Tribunal reduced Burns´fine. It does seem that Burns has got off lightly, given the compensation being paid out by the FSCS and the enormity of his crime.

Here in the Pension Life office, we believe scammers should be locked up for their crimes and the keys thrown away. A light sentence seems to spell out to scammers that they may get caught but will get off with a slap on the wrist – leaving these criminals free to scam again and again.

August 14, 2018
Robusto Asset Management – qualified and registered?

If you have been following Pension Life´s blogs, you will know that we have been conducting a series of investigations into qualified and registered financial advisers in various firms. Today I am investigating Robusto Asset Management – qualified and registered?

IFAs and their clients are invited to add to it, correct it, improve it. Here’s a link to the three registers if you want to double check:

http://www.cii.co.uk/web/app/membersearch/MemberSearch.aspx

https://www.cisi.org/cisiweb2/cisi-website/join-us/cisi-member-directory

https://www.libf.ac.uk/members-and-alumni/sps-and-cpd-register – Claim to a DipFA

Please note that this data is correct as of 19/07/2018

Robusto Asset Management are part of the Woodbrook Group, Pension Life investigated Woodbrook group a few weeks ago. Woodbrook had just 1/26 – 3.8% of their team members who were qualified to give financial advice. So are Robusto Asset Management – qualified and registered? Can they beat their partner company?

Robusto Asset Management has a website very similar to Woodbrook Group, so when you click on the ´Team´ button on the menu, you are taken to a page which does not give you ANY information about the team. Instead, you get their German address and a few paragraphs:

´With over 100 years industry experience, our team is focused on partnering with you to develop financial strength, which ultimately protects you and your family and delivers a lasting legacy. We aim to understand our clients absolutely and in so doing provide objective, tailored solutions that enhance their lives.

Our in depth knowledge and experience in the international financial services sector provides us with a unique proposition and skill set that together make us leaders in the field. We would welcome the opportunity to speak with you today.´

A quick search on Linkedin, and there are three staff listed. Here is Robusto Asset Management – qualified and registered?

Trevor Byrne – Senior Wealth Manager Malaga

Past employment includes:

Vice President International Pensions – Holborn Assets

Wealth Manager – Blacktower Financial Management

Claims a host of CII qualifications and Certificate for Financial Advisers License A111063 – but DOES NOT appear on the register

John Geddis – Maritime Financial Consultant Palma Area

No claim to any financial qualifications

Matthias S

Director at Robusto Asset Management GmbH

Claims to be a member of the CISI, however, he is not on the register.

Robusto Asset Management – qualified and registered? 0%

August 14, 2018
STM Group Plc – announces trading update

STM Group has announced the following trading updates for the first half of this year.

STM state that the first half of the year has progressed in line with management´s expectations. They refer to this with particular emphasis on their SIPPS program. For those readers who are unfamiliar with STM’s past investment scams, here is a little bit of background information:

STM Fidecs scammed hundreds of victims out of their pensions. STM Fidecs took business from unlicensed scammer XXXX XXXX of Global Partners Limited (only had an insurance license with Marcus Groombridge’s firm Joseph Oliver) and then invested 100% of the victims’ funds into an illegal UCIS fund – run by XXXX XXXX. This fund was called the Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund.

One of the updates is that STM Group have appointed a Group Internal Auditor. I wonder if this is going to make their trading any more honest. One can only hope that their future auditing will be considerably better than their past.

STM Group accepted hundreds of transfers from UK residents in whose interests it was NOT to swap their British pension arrangements for an expensive QROPS. STM Group then allowed these victims to have funds invested in XXXX XXXX’s own fund – Trafalgar Multi-Asset (a UCIS which is illegal to promote to UK residents). There didn´t seem to be much in-house auditing going on then.

What makes this more hard to swallow is that:

Neither STM Fidecs nor the Gibraltar FSC has said a word about redress for the Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund victims.

Instead, in March of this year, STM Group’s Alan Kentish, was delighted to deliver reports of record profits for 2017. This was after he was arrested in October 2017. Unfortunately (for the Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund victims), he was released without charge and was fully backed by the STM Group board.

We are still wondering what the hell the Gibraltar FSC is going to do about this fraud. Leaving STM Group to commit further fraud does not seem to be a viable option.

August 13, 2018
Generali, an utter disgrace, merging with Utmost Wealth

Utmost Wealth and Generali PanEurope are set to merge with the help of Life Company Consolidation Group (LCCG). The plan is to re-brand as Utmost PanEurope. I wonder if this merger will do its utmost to ensure they manage and mitigate their future victims´ – sorry clients´ – risks, and protect their investments – as they certainly didn´t do so for their victims who suffered at the hands of CWM.

GPE chief executive Paul Gillett added: “We are proud of our performance over the last 20 years and have grown into one of the largest international companies in Ireland, with assets under management of over €10bn.

What a disgrace that Gillett can announce that he is “proud” of their performance over the last 20 years – proud of the misery and stress caused to the victims of the CWM pension scam? Proud of the fact that Generali have refused to take ANY responsibility for their victims´ losses.

Gillett goes on to say:

“The sale of the business to LCCG marks a very important step in our future development. Together, we represent one of the leading European providers of cross border wealth and corporate risk solutions with the potential to grow further across both current and new markets.”

With the responsibility of Generali being passed over to LCCG, here at Pension Life, we wonder if LCCG will be taking responsibility for Generali´s past victims as well. Will LCCG apply their corporate risk solutions to those who have already been put at risk? Generali on their own certainly didn´t apply a high standard of risk solutions when they placed CWM victims´ funds into high-risk, toxic, professional-investor-only structured notes.

Lets hope Utmost Wealth will do their utmost to sort out this utter disgrace caused by Generali´s negligence.

August 6, 2018
Scaremongering expats – paving the way for more scams

Independent News has written an article entitled – No-deal Brexit will make it ‘illegal’ to pay pensions to retired British expats living in EU, MPs told. In my opinion its just a move to scaremonger expats – paving the way for more scammers.

There are expats all over the world claiming their pensions. Why should Brexit make a difference to those in the EU?

The problem with scaremongering is like this: it paves the way for the pension vampires to strike with ease. Innocent expats, who hold private or occupational UK pensions, will read this kind of alarming report and could be sent into a flurry of panic – reaching for the nearest offshore deal. Or rather, offshore scam.

This type of report creates hordes of expats who don’t really understand what Brexit means (does anyone?) to their future. It creates an easy target for unqualified advisers working for the unregulated firms to strike while the iron is hot. A quick transfer, made in haste, the small print left unread – and the victim can spend the rest of their life regretting a bad decision.

Much in the same way as the scammers crowded outside the gates of British Steel factories – preying on the workers who really did not understand what was happening to their pension fund or what was the best decision to make, this report gives the scammers a new angle on which to work.

It would, however, seem that Huw Evans doesn’t know ‘who’ will be affected by this. His statement lacks any solid facts as to what countries in the EU could enforce this. Huw states there are 38 million people that could be affected. However, he fails to explain exactly why or how this would happen.

If you are an expat, with a UK pension, please do not rush into transferring your pension into an offshore arrangement. If you are interested in transferring your pension, be sure to consult a regulated advisory firm and take advice from a fully qualified and registered adviser.

Make sure you ask all the right questions, know all the details about where your pension will be going and above all, if in doubt, do not make the transfer. Pension scammers lurk all over the world – do not be their next victim.

What is a Pension Scam?

August 6, 2018
Qualified and registered? Comments, complaints and feedback

Who would have thought that the series of blogs, ….. company name … qualified and registered? would have caused such a stir? On one side I have anonymous readers attacking my words, on another I have grateful victims of pension scams thanking me for outing these companies. From a third direction, I have IFAs telling me they are qualified but don’t bother to pay their membership fees.

For those readers who follow Pension Life blogs, I would like to say that comments in response to my postings – whether they be positive or negative – are almost always approved – there is nothing to hide, despite what some of the trolls may suggest. Interestingly, the trolls that continue to post their nonsense, hide behind anonymous names and titles – either because they are cowards or because they are involved in pension scams themselves. However, comments which are clearly malicious and time-wasting, are popped into the spam bin. The trolls clearly hate the fact that we are educating the masses on how to avoid falling victim to a pension scam.

The Globaleye Dubai – qualified and registered? blog has had a lot of comments:

‘You do realise that these databases only carry the names of subscription paying members. I have 3 CII qualifications but do not pay their ‘admin’ fee so do not appear on the search.  Therefore, your comments are irrelevant!’ Jo Kerr

If my comments are irrelevant, why take the time to respond? What we are trying to highlight in this series of blogs is that offshore advisers are operating without the correct qualifications (or even with NONE AT ALL) to advise on pensions and investments. Without the correct qualifications, how can a client be sure that the adviser is working to their specific needs – as well as in an educated and trustworthy manner? If they do not belong to an association like the CII, what does govern them and ensure they are an honest and qualified adviser? The point of being qualified in a specific area is to enable the qualified person to provide a professional service to the client – (just as important as for doctors, lawyers, mechanics or plumbers).

If you are paying someone to do a job, you want them to be qualified to the highest standard. If they are not qualified appropriately, this is where ‘mistakes’ can happen. Whether it be by accident or on purpose (often because the defining factor is what earns the adviser the most commissions, rather than what is in the best interests of the client). Posing as a fully qualified IFA is simply wrong. Plus if you have the qualifications, then why not be proud of having them and pay the membership fee? Be transparent; let all clients and potential clients know that you have devoted yourself to studying for and achieving these qualifications.

Pension scams are no joke – they are not irrelevant to the victims whose lives have been left in tatters. Maybe “Jo Kerr” would like to field some of the calls I take – talk to victims who have lost their life savings by trusting unqualified, unregulated so-called advisers posing as fully qualified experts, placing hard-earned pension funds into toxic, high-risk investments, generally accompanied by high commissions. Maybe this callous joker could absorb some of the profound despair of the victims who are contemplating suicide. I guess you could simply say to them, ‘well I think it’s irrelevant’. But maybe you, like many other IFAs, just don’t care. It is irrelevant to you what happens to the funds of the victims, as long as the investments make you fat commissions.

Tell this victim of CWM’s ‘Blue chip notes’ pension scam – promoted by unregulated and unqualified IFAs that his loss is irrelevant:

CWM Pension scam – A victim’s reconstruction

The blogs we write at Pension Life are aimed at the public, the hard-working public who have saved much of their working life into a pension plan and want to put it somewhere safe. It is therefore their right to know which companies and advisers are fully qualified and regulated and which are not. The public need to be able to make educated and safe investment decisions. They need to know what questions to ask their IFA. They need to know what companies have been involved in past pension scams. They need to know as much as possible about how to invest their pension wisely.

With these blogs I hope to better educate the masses so that pension scammers and fraudsters can be stopped in their tracks – worldwide. The series of qualified and registered blogs has exposed many unqualified and unregistered advisers who work in the industry. I don’t quite get why so many of the comments are then so negative to this transparency – I wonder what those who make the negative comments have to hide? Are they the ones who are involved in the pension scams and realise that their misdemeanours are being publicised?

What I find most interesting, is that rather than question the companies as to the reason their IFAs lie about their qualifications, the readers placing the comments are more inclined to try to discredit me, my company and my staff.

I wrote in a previous blog a response to questions about the companies I do not mention and I will repeat that here:

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.”

I would like to thank CII Member for their comment in response to Jo Kerr:

‘As a member of the CII, I am appalled by all of this.

‘It is a membership fee, not an “admin” fee, for a professional body. Qualified members, by being paid members, sign up to a code of conduct. Some are claiming to be members and some are using CII designations after their names without being members. This is expressly not allowed by the CII. I cannot comment about the CISI, though I am sure they will have similar rules.

The CII need to take firm action here to maintain the integrity of the Institute for those that are genuine, qualified members.

As I have pointed out, any self-respecting adviser with qualifications is happy to pay their membership fee, and is horrified that others who hold the same qualifications do not bother to do so. This, therefore, enables anyone to state “I do hold the qualification – I just don’t pay the membership fee”. If you have the qualification and are working as an adviser, why not pay the membership fee? Qualified advisers refusing to pay leaves the door wide open for the fraudsters posing as qualified advisers to get away with committing fraud TIME AND TIME AGAIN. This blatant lack of regard for the system – QUALIFICATIONS NEEDED AND REGULATIONS – that has been built up over many years, enables the bad and the ugly to roam free – with new pension scams being hatched daily.

Also to add, as CII Member does, you need a level 4 if not 6 with the CII to be fully qualified to give UK pension advice. A level 3 does not qualify you to advise on pensions – as our previous blog outlines.

How many more victims of investment and pensions scams do we need to have before everyone in the industry can undertake that there needs to be 100% transparency and a worldwide register of regulated companies and their fully qualified and registered advisers – whether they are offshore or not?

July 24, 2018
Callaghan QROPS Spain – qualified and registered?

If you have been following Pension Life´s blogs, you will know that we have been conducting a series of investigations into qualified and registered financial advisers in various firms. Today is the turn of Callaghan QROPS Spain – qualified and registered?

IFAs and their clients are invited to add to it, correct it, improve it. Here’s a link to the three registers if you want to double check:

http://www.cii.co.uk/web/app/membersearch/MemberSearch.aspx

https://www.cisi.org/cisiweb2/cisi-website/join-us/cisi-member-directory

https://www.libf.ac.uk/members-and-alumni/sps-and-cpd-register – Claim to a DipFA

Please note that this data is correct as at today, 11/07/2018

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What Callaghan QROPS Spain say about themselves:

“Located in Cabo Roig, Alicante, GC QROPS has a long history of assisting UK Expats with their pension transfers. Our pensions advisors are all UK Qualified and Registered IFAs and give up-to-date informed evaluations with a no obligation policy running throughout the company.

Graeme Callaghan Pension Services has been successfully assisting UK expats in Spain with UK pension transfers for 9 years since 2006. We have assisted in over 500 successful UK pension transfers for UK Pensioners.”

Callaghan QROPS Spain claim they have been advising UK expats on their pension transfers for nine years – with this claim, let’s hope Callaghan QROPS Spain has advisers which are qualified and registered? Can this firm score a better percentage than some of the other companies of the past weeks?

Callaghan QROPS Spain – advisers qualified and registered?

Upon clicking on the ´Our Advisers´ tab on Graeme Callaghan´s website, I was presented with this statement:

´All our advisers are U.K qualified. We offer a free no obligation assessment on all your existing plans. Including your U.K pensions, your existing QROPS and ISA’s.

In some circumstances our advisers will travel to your country of residence. We can also arrange for your travelling requirements to one of our offices in Spain.´

With no links to any real person to represent this Callaghan QROPS Spain firm, it is very hard to make a judgement on who you are entrusting you valuable pension fund to. Callaghan QROPS Spain do little to give a true representation of their firm with no transparency about their staff or their qualifications – I was unable to even find a picture of Graeme Callaghan himself. They do however mention that they are looking for UK qualified financial advisers.

What I did find was a host of testimonials from Hollywood movie stars and professional sports persons etc etc assuring me that Callaghan QROPS Spain had supplied, ´Top Service´, and were ´Highly recommended´.

What I find hard to grasp is that Callaghan QROPS Spain managed to go to all the effort of giving a long list of testimonials, but were unable to take the time to put anyone in their ´Our Advisers´ tab. Surely a reputable financial advisory company would be proud to show their qualified and registered IFAs who give ´top service´ to pension holders?

As shown in the image above there were lots of links to social media, so I chose to follow the Facebook one first. Here I was able to find an image of Graeme Callaghan of Callaghan QROPS Spain (and I also found out they were Callaghan QROPS Portugal too).

On his facebook page dated 06/07/2018 he states: ´Find us ranked on page one by Google with an ”Evergreen QROPS” search. We are assisting multiple members of this scheme with transfering to a scheme recognised on the HMRC website. Contact us for a free no obligation assessment on your existing QROPS or UK pension´.

Those of you who are familiar with the CWM pension scam debacle and the Evergreen QROPS liberation scheme will know that this pension scam was hustled by unregulated and unqualified advisers and resulted in members losing massive percentages of their pension funds when CWM collapsed. Furthermore, the victims of this scam face large tax bills from HMRC after they received Stephen Ward’s Marazion “loans” on their pension transfers.

How the Evergreen QROPS and Marazion Loans pension scam worked.

Graeme Callaghan is also using the threat of Brexit as a compelling reason for expats to move their pension fund into a QROPS. It is questionable whether Brexit will have any effect at all on expats’ pensions and many firms are using this as a “scare tactic” to get people to transfer into a QROPS – often entirely unnecessarily.

As I have no other staff to go on for Callaghan QROPS Spain, I am going to check the registers for Graeme Callaghan himself. Interestingly on his Facebook profile he states he studied at City University London, but he fails to mention what subject he studied there.

Graham Callaghan – Director? Sole financial adviser? Position unclear – however he seems to be the owner of Callaghan QROPS Spain – IS NOT LISTED ON ANY OF THE REGISTERS FOR FINANCIAL ADVISERS.

Callaghan QROPS Spain – qualified and registered? 0/1 – 0%

EDIT: a search through Linkedin of Callaghan QROPS Spain revealed that there is in fact another employee, Dylan Callaghan. Listed job role of UK Pension Adviser at Graeme Callaghan Pension Services, he too went to went to University of London where he apparently studied for an MBA.

Despite stating that he is a UK pension adviser for the company, he lists no financial qualifications and does not appear on any of the three registers. Therefore, Callaghan QROPS Spain – qualified and registered? 0/2 employees 0%.

Other claims by Callaghan QROPS Spain: Callaghan Financial Services can advise on the whole of the QROPS market and we are not tied to one jurisdiction. Really? And how do you manage that? You are an unregulated company, with zero qualifications.

“We believe part of our success is due to offering a free no obligation assessment on all your existing plans.” Here at Pension Life we are always supicious of the word ´free´.

If I was looking to swap my pension plan I would steer clear of Callaghan QROPS Spain.

Unqualified, unregistered, unregulated and non-transparent – this company is no place for your pension fund – even if Eric Roberts (Hollywood Actor) states they are an excellent company!

CWM Pension scam – A victim’s reconstruction

July 11, 2018
Spectrum IFA Group – qualified and registered?

If you have been following Pension Life´s blogs you will know that we have been conducting a series of investigations into qualified and registered financial advisers in various firms. Today is Spectrum IFA Group – qualified and registered?

IFAs and their clients are invited to add to it, correct it, improve it. Here’s a link to the two registers if you want to double check:

http://www.cii.co.uk/web/app/membersearch/MemberSearch.aspx

https://www.cisi.org/cisiweb2/cisi-website/join-us/cisi-member-directory

Please note that this data is correct as of 9am 29/06/2018

edit: we have been informed that there is a third website we can check for qualifications, so this page is in the process of editing whilst we see if any names appear on the libf members website.

https://www.libf.ac.uk/members-and-alumni/sps-and-cpd-register

The Spectrum IFA Group – qualified and registered? They have six Spanish offices, plus offices in France, Italy, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. They claim to have a presence in Portugal, but nobody seems to work there.

In the Continental Wealth Management disaster, 1,000 victims had £100 million invested by unqualified scammers in “life bonds” provided by OMI, SEB and Generali – completely pointless and unnecessary except to pay fat commissions to the scammers; then invested in high-risk, professional-investor-only structured notes which were entirely unsuitable for pensions and resulted in crippling losses.

The lessons have to be learned from the Continental Wealth scam, and it is really important that all advisory firms make it clear how their advisers are qualified and also make it easy for the public to check out their qualifications. Let’s have a look at another European advisory firm: Spectrum IFA Group.

ONE THING THAT WORRIES US ABOUT THIS FIRM IS THAT THERE IS NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER OF THIS FIRM HAVING ANY INVESTMENT LICENSES – ONLY INSURANCE LICENSES. So, it is fine for their advisers to sell pet, car and house insurance, but certainly not to advise on pensions or investments.

Spectrum IFA Group state – “Our internationally qualified, professional advisers are readily available to make certain you receive the best possible advice and superb service, bringing you peace of mind for the following areas: QROPS…Pensions in Spain.”

Unfortunately, Spectrum doesn’t score too high on their staff’s qualified and registered status…we looked them up on the CII and CISI registers. There are, of course, other institutes which can be used – but the firm should make it clear how their advisers are qualified – as well as to what level – and make it easy for the public to check this out.

Barcelona

Jonathan Goodman – CII registered Spain International – but not registered as Chartered so not qualified to give pensions advice – not on libf.ac.uk -bu t –

Paul Roberts – Not listed on either CII or CISI register – not on libf.ac.uk

Richard Rose – Claims he holds an International Financial Planning Certificate – not on either CII or CISI register – not on libf.ac.uk

Barry Davys – Not listed on either CII or CISI register – not on libf.ac.uk

Cédric Privat – Not listed on either CII or CISI register – not on libf.ac.uk

Chris Burke – Listed on the CII register for Spain – but not registered as Chartered – not on libf.ac.uk

Costa Blanca

Robin Beven – CII registered Spain international (but only Cert PFS which is Level 3 – the minimum required in the UK is Level 4, so this begs the question whether Beven should be allowed to advise on UK pensions) – not on libf.ac.uk

John Hayward – CII registered Spain international – not on libf.ac.uk

Annette Bowen – not on either CII or CISI register – not on libf.ac.uk

David Hattersley – not on either CII or CISI register – not on libf.ac.uk

Dennis Radford – not on either CII or CISI register – not on libf.ac.uk

Mike Churchley – not on either CII or CISI register – not on libf.ac.uk

Costa Del Sol

Pauline Bowden – not on either CII or CISI register – not on libf.ac.uk

Charles Hutchinson – not on either CII or CISI register – not on libf.ac.uk

Murcia & Almeria

Robin Beven – CII register Spain International (but how can he work here and also in the Costa Blanca office)

John Hayward – CII registered Spain International

Dennis Radford – not on either CII or CISI register (ANOTHER duplicate employee works for Costa Blanca also?)

Mick Churchley – not on either CII or CISI register (and yet ANOTHER duplicate employee works for Costa Blanca also?)

Basically the Murcia & Almeria office just lists some of the Costa Blanca office employees – a cause for concern??? The two members of the team that we can find on the register are not qualified to give pension advice and no information as to whether the rest have a financial qualification at all

Mallorca & Menorca

Susan Worthington – not on either CII or CISI register – not on libf.ac.uk

Madrid

Chris Webb – Claims CISI – not listed on the register – not on libf.ac.uk

edit: despite the libf register NONE of the Spectrum IFA group in Spain appear on it, this means the original score sticks.

Spectrum IFA Group – qualified and registered? score just 4/16 so far (but we will see what the score is when we finish reporting on all the advisers in all the offices in Europe).

….and on to the rest of Europe…

July 1, 2018