Tag: Utmost International

INTERNATIONAL ADVISER’S GLOBAL FINANCIAL SERVICES AWARDS 2025 By Gary Robinson

Gary Robinson of International Adviser celebrates global undisclosed commissions on June 25th 2025.

Gary Robinson, journalist and filmmaker, now heads up International Adviser. IA poses as a financial services news magazine. In reality, it is a rag for promoting the products of the life offices (more accurately known as death offices) such as Utmost International, RL360, Hansard and Investors Trust. This enriches the commission-hungry firms – such as DeVere, Guardian Wealth Management, Holborn Assets and Mondial in Dubai. (See victims’ reviews below).

Gary Robinson, also MD of Money Map Media, pictured above promoting Nigel Green of DeVere, claims:

“Really exciting to bring back the IA Global Financial Services Awards 2025 where the shortlist is solely decided by our advisers, brokers and wealth managers.”

Death Office Quilter – now Utmost – set to win awards for misrepresentation and undisclosed commissions.

But Gary’s “excitement” is disingenuous as he knows full well that the advisers, brokers and wealth managers are at the receiving end of the fraudulently-concealed commission machine operated by the death offices. This leads to sales of inappropriate and risky investment products. And the word “adviser” is grossly misleading as the majority of the firms don’t sell advice – they sell products for fat and destructive commissions.

Gary’s predecessor was Kirsten Hastings. In 2020, Hastings handed out awards to her paymasters to rapturous canned applause:

“And the winner of international life group non-UK is Quilter International. Congratulations!”

“And the winner of International Portfolio Bond is Quilter International. Congratulations!!”

“And the winner of Digital Proposition is Quilter International. Congratulations!!!

Hastings said that Quilter had been “overwhelmingly nominated by the advisers”. Hardly surprising since that’s where their juicy, fraudulent commissions come from.

These undisclosed commissions come in two layers: 7% or 8% on the portfolio bond itself. Then commissions of up to 19% or more on the toxic, high-risk assets on the investment platforms provided by the death offices. So the “advice” to get sucked into these products is certainly not “independent”.

Five years later, the 2025 IA awards not only target the death offices but also the rogue jurisdictions which act as enthusiastic incubators for so much international financial crime. IA Nominations for International Financial Centre of the Year include:

Hong Kong, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.

All of which have harboured fraud, negligence and mis selling – with little or no intervention by the regulators.

Hong Kong is not as popular among fraudsters as Malta, Gibraltar and the Isle of Man. However, in 2014 a group of conmen in Hong Kong – including Neil Masters, Michael Foggo, Mark Wearmouth and Chris Beale – launched the GFS Superannuation Scheme 2 occupational pension. They then operated a multi-million-pound investment fraud in partnership with Czech broker Planet Pensions (aka Aktiva and Square Mile).

Neil Masters – Mastering the art of investment fraud.

Hundreds of UK-residents were then conned into transferring their pensions to GFS in Hong Kong. They lost everything in toxic, unregulated, high-commission investments. Convicted criminals Mark Donnelly and Gordon Couch of Brite Advisors then tried to take over the scheme using Donnelly’s Hong Kong company Tribune – set up jointly with Nigel Green of DeVere. Donnelly then bought Planet Pensions for £650,000 using money stolen from his Brite Advisors clients.

The Hong Kong regulator did at least deregister the scheme when it realised it had been used for investment fraud – but then took no criminal action against the perpetrators.

Guernsey and Jersey have also been involved with various investment scams over the past decade. These include the 💲100 million unregulated collective investment EEA Life Settlements scam based in Guernsey and the £40 million Privilege Wealth payday loans swindle used as 100% investments in pension portfolios in Jersey.

The Isle of Man hosts some of the World’s worst facilitators of fraud – including Hansard, Utmost, Quilter, Friends Provident International and RL360. These firms have been responsible for the destruction of billions of pounds of life savings and are currently standing trial in the Isle of Man for misrepresentation and undisclosed commissions in two claims for £400 million worth of losses for hundreds of victims. And these death offices have for many years paid millions of pounds in secret commissions to the worst of the commission-driven “advice” industry.

Hopefully Gary Robinson will give the audience, at the awards ceremony on 25th June, details of the crippling losses caused by Friends Provident International and Quilter International (now Utmost).

The IA Award nominations for best international pension provider include Momentum Pensions in Malta. This is astonishing as Momentum has the most Arbiter complaints of all the QROPS providers in this ineptly-regulated and corrupt jurisdiction. The Malta Arbiter’s website clearly contains details of nearly 100 serious complaints against Momentum – most of which were upheld. The Arbiter found that Momentum had failed to comply with the Malta financial services regulations and to have failed in its fiduciary duty to the scheme members. And yet still the Malta regulator – despite the Malta Arbiter’s damning condemnation – has still not shut down Momentum (or STM for that matter – which came a shameful second to Momentum).

Momentum Pensions had allowed millions of pounds’ worth of investments in toxic, high-risk structured notes by unregulated Spanish firm CWM. Most of these failed, wiping out hundreds of members’ pensions.   The sole director of CWM has recently been convicted of fraud and sentenced to four years in prison.

Momentum Pensions was not the only QROPS provider in Malta to facilitate investment fraud by rogue brokers. This is borne out in detail through serious complaints published on the Malta Arbiter’s website also include Dominion Fiduciary Services, STM, Optimus, ITC and Mark Donnelly’s MC Trustees. All these firms negligently allowed high-risk, high-commission, unsuitable investments by unscrupulous brokers (resulting in total loss for the victims).

These Malta-based pension providers open the gateway to the death offices in the Isle of Man – who host the high-risk investments and facilitate the illegal commissions. The Asset Review Team at Quilter International had reported concerns about this a decade ago:

“Commerzbank and Leonteq structured products appear to be risky and not good value due to relatively high commissions.”

The Asset Review Team also described the undisclosed commission arrangement operated by Nigel Green’s DeVere:

“DeVere’s model is that they take 4% for advice plus an arrangement fee of 4%. The 4% advice fee is disclosed. The arrangement fee is not disclosed to the customer. The client pays 104% for a structured product with an issue price of 100%. If the client tried to exit the product on day 2 they would receive 96% for something that they paid 104% for.”

(And let us not forget that this is just DeVere’s commission on the investments – they also receive up to 8% on the insurance bonds as well).

Former IoM regulator Peter Kenny – as MD and CEO of Quilter International – did accept liability in 2018 for facilitating the CWM fraud. He agreed to compensate the victims. But then he realised this could compromise the £200 million claim against rogue structured note provider Leonteq – and reneged on the agreement.

So, Gary Robinson, Head of International Adviser, before you start popping the champagne corks and handing out awards to firms which have facilitated fraud, why not announce a minute’s silence to remember the victims. Describe the misery they have suffered; the poverty; the loss of a lifetime’s work to build up a pension; the broken marriages; the lost homes; the distress and depression. And don’t forget the deaths. NEVER FORGET THE DEATHS GARY.

Gary Robinson of International Adviser celebrating global financial services fraud

DeVere Reviews

de Swaan 30 Mar 2025

Stay away from DeVere at all cost

A few weeks ago I wrote a review of the pathetic service that, for four years (from 2020 to 2024) I received from the Mexican subsidiary of de Vere Group. Today I received a message from Trustpilot informing that my review was removed for “containing possible defamatory accusations”. I have expressed to Trustpilot my absolute willingness to present the evidence for each of the arguments contained in that message, which I summarize below.

1. de Vere Group is the typical financial company that will approach you with a lot of kindness and good treatment in the first meetings, but then it will basically disappear and it will be up to the customer to chase it to be served.
2. de Vere Group has the highest personnel rotation you’ve ever seen in a company. In four years I had five financial advisors, which basically leaves the client in an absolute state of defenselessness, because there is no institutional strategy and invariably the advisor in turn will blame the previous one for the decisions and poor performance of your portfolio.
3. De Vere Group has no incentive for its clients to do well (and it shows) because its commissions are totally unrelated to the financial performance of its clients. Always look for advisors whose fees are related to the performance of your financial boards.
4. After the departure of each advisor, with de Vere Group it will be up to the client to pursue the company to be served again and it is impossible to demand that there be the slightest continuity in the strategy because the new advisor will start the relationship as if you were a new client and promote new strategies criticizing his predecessor.
5. When they retire, each advisor will seek to get you to maintain the relationship with him or her by talking badly about the company they are leaving (and I don’t blame them)

I have dozens of emails that can prove every word of what I expose here. I wish de Vere were as good a financial advisor as he is to accuse defamation.

Date of experience: 30 June 2024

Joe Dobert 24 Feb 2025

Avoid

They have possibly up to 10% markups on their structured notes and their advisors are not even aware of this. My recommendation: always compare with other providers.

Date of experience: 24 November 2024

David 15 Apr 2025

I have lost more than 80 % of what I invested in cash more than 18 years ago.invested USD 103,000 in a collective…

I invested USD 103 000 in a collective investment bond with this company in Qatar in 2007. I was promised quarterly meetings with the advisor for him to give me advise. Subsequently, the company closed their Qatar office, closed their Dubai office, closed their Oman office, closed their South African office etc. As of 2025, My investment is worth USD 21000 and I am battling to get the money out of a company Utmost in the Isle of man. They are making me jump through hoops to provide them with all sorts of information before they will pay out. I have received no advice in 18 years, the bond has been handled by several organisations over the years and I have made several attempts to stop the constant fees. I hold De Vere totally responsible for the losses. What they are doing is destroying peoples lives by hiding behind their lawyers, the small print in their systems and collusion with other corrupt financial organisations.

Date of experience: 15 April 2025

Guardian Wealth Management Reviews

R Reames 6 Nov 2023

Poor communication

Poor communication. Happy to take their fees but with no portfolio management. Allowed my investment to lose almost 40% with no intervention.

Date of experience: 06 November 2023

Martyn Kilburn 30 Sept 2023

#leavemealone

I would have not even bothered writing a review but skybound wealth keep hassling me about my investment. I looked on website reviews and they are all 5 stars. I can only imagines they have been left by the friends and family of skybound wealth. For me the whole investment thing was a bit of a mummer’s farce. I can only describe it as imagining you had two uncles visiting your house. 1. Uncle skybound wealth/uncle jimmy saville and 2. Uncle guardian wealth/ uncle rolf harris. Either way they seemed alright at the beginning but in the end violated you financially.

Date of experience: 30 September 2023

Holborn Assets Reviews

Chad Kassis 17 Dec 2024

Save Your Money And Go Somewhere Else

Holborn Assets has been one of the most disappointing companies I’ve ever dealt with. A few years ago, I entrusted them with a significant investment, expecting the typical services of a reputable asset management firm, regular updates, performance reviews, and professional portfolio management. Unfortunately, none of these expectations were met. Most of my emails went unanswered, their performance was subpar, and their high annual fees were completely unjustifiable. I was paying 3% annually for literally nothing! I initially thought the issue might be with our manager, but even escalating concerns to his superiors and their superiors proved futile. In reality, Holborn Assets seems to function more as a glorified sales operation than a legitimate asset management firm. If you’re looking for a trustworthy investment partner, a company that does the bare minimum of customer support, I strongly advise looking elsewhere. Save your money and your peace of mind! I will be writing an in-depth blog and video posts to document and share this awful experience!

Date of experience: 15 December 2024

Steve Poll 10 Nov 2024

Verified

Lost over 40% in a moderate risk fund over 7 years

We invested a lump sum with Holburn Assets in 2017 with a risk profile of moderate (so, not high risk). By 2023 we had had enough of the fund depreciating in value each year. Having requested early exit from the scheme, it took 10 months to get our remaining monies transferred out. Whenever we or our new financial advisor provided information required to complete the exit, yet another request for even more information would suddenly appear.

By the time we paid the early exit fees our investment had depreciated by over 40% (and that’s before you allow for inflation).

When we complained to Holburn Assets we were told that the low amount of monies we got back was due to the exit fees. While these exit fees were high, most of the losses were from their poor investment and high annual fees. At no time did they suggest we move the monies into another fund.

Our new financial advisor (who has performed well so far) summed up our experience with Holburn Assets very well – excessively high annual costs and extremely poor performance.

Date of experience: 10 October 2024

Verified

Mondial Reviews

M Robinson 8 May 2025

Beware!!!!!!

Beware. Mark Donnelly owns a large stake in this company. Mark is a convicted criminal in the UK. He oversaw the collapse of Brite Advisors which was forcibly liquidated by Australian regulator because of massive irregularities – Mark then quickly left Australia to come to the UAE.

Date of experience: 09 May 2025

15 May 2024

Be Careful!

Be Careful!
A major Owner of this business was the owner of the firm of advisors that managed my retirement savings. Margin loans were raised by the firm of advisors, using our retirement assets (which were supposed to be held in trust) as collateral. Money went missing and the loans were not repaid. The firm has been placed in receivership by Australian Authorities. Our retirement assets are now frozen.

Date of experience: 15 May 2024

Useful3Share

MU

12 May 2024

My UK offshore retirement fund (QROPS)…

My UK offshore retirement fund (QROPS) is now frozen, until the Receivers of Brite have figured out where the missing funds went and how much is left of retirement investors Assets. These assets (supposedly held in trust) were used by Brite as collateral for margin loans, to expand their portfolio of clients and to buy luxury cars. Brite stopped paying the loans, were placed in receivership and investors assets were frozen. The owner of Brite is a major owner of Mondial Dubai, think twice before investing there.

Date of experience: 12 May 2024

British Expat in Colorado

8 May 2024

AVOID

I don’t know about how Mondial operated previously, but recently I understand a certain Mark Donnelly acquired 75% controlling ownership. He had previously led Brite Advisors globally which was shut down by regulators in Australia early in 2024 after reporting issues and a significant hole was ‘discovered’ in client’s pensions Assets under Management – I would NOT recommend getting involved with ANY company associated with him.

Date of experience: 01 May 2024

June 4, 2025

POST OFFICE V LIFE OFFICE

The Post Office scandal is routinely referred to as being the worst betrayal of justice in British history. It is hard to argue that there could be anything worse than what the liars and fraudsters at Post Office Limited and Fujitsu (and their various lawyers) did to hundreds of innocent sub postmasters. But the Life Offices – including Utmost International – and many of the brokers with whom they have terms of business – certainly come a close second.

The Post Office scam was led by Paula Vennells – an ordained Anglican Minister. She was CEO from 2012 to 2019. It is hard to figure out which bit of the Ten Commandments she omitted to read, especially “Thou shalt not steal” and “Thou shalt not bear false witness”.

Listening to the testimonies in the Post Office Horizon Enquiry led by Sir Wyn Williams, it is clear there is a sub-group of human beings who have little right to call themselves “human”. This includes the bosses at Post Office Limited and Fujitsu (as well as their various lawyers) who knowingly sent hundreds of innocent victims to prison (including a pregnant woman). Having extorted money from their victims to repay the “shortages” falsely reported by the Horizon software, the Post Office bosses then paid themselves whopping bonuses.

There is a great deal of information, background and commentary on the Post Office scandal – including Nick Wallis’ excellent book “The Great Post Office Cover Up“; Computer Weekly’s excellent, comprehensive coverage; the British government’s own report; and even a television docudrama which reconstructed the appalling events in Mr. Bates vs The Post Office.

The Post Office/Fujitsu scandal was the subject of a public enquiry which exposed the appalling events and profound negligence and criminality by Post Office and Fujitsu bosses and staff. Thanks to the exceptional diligence of the barristers who represented the victims and expertly dragged the truths, half truths and lies out of the perpetrators, the public can finally see the truth.

What remains to be seen, however, is what compensation the victims of the Post Office and Fujitsu fraud will receive. Hundreds of sub postmasters were wrongly convicted of false accounting and theft, and in numerous cases made to pay back the money they had never stolen, and often sent to prison. Hundreds of lives were ruined and some victims committed suicide because of the shame of being viewed in their close-knit communities as guilty of theft and false accounting. Taking into account the wider interests of the families of the victims, however, this atrocity has ruined thousands of lives.

The Post Office has, reportedly, spent hundreds of millions on legal fees – to defend its position, deny responsibility and culpability, and delay paying out compensation to its victims. Figures vary, but it is clear the Post Office has spent way more on its own fees than it would have done had it simply paid fair compensation to its victims.

While the Post Office/Fujitsu enquiry is now complete, the civil litigation against the Life Offices is currently going through the Isle of Man courts. And, like the Post Office, the Life Offices are throwing millions of pounds at their lawyers to try to evade paying their victims the redress they deserve.

There are numerous similarities and differences between the Post Office scandal and the Life Office scandal (Utmost International, SEB, RL360, Investors Trust etc). The bosses at the Post Office and Fujitsu had a limited, finite pool of victims in the UK – whereas the Life Offices had – and still have – an unlimited pool of victims globally. Plus, the Life Offices did not falsely prosecute their victims or send them to prison. But they still ruined their lives nonetheless.

Let’s compare some of the tragic similarities between both scandals:

The Post Office was headed up by an ordained Anglican minister (Paul Vennells). She should have known better.	Quilter (Old Mutual) (leading player in the Life Office scandal) was headed up by a former Isle of Man regulator (Peter Kenny). He should have known better.
The Post Office knew that Fujitsu’s “Horizon” accounting software was full of bugs and could not be relied upon. Horizon would inevitably report false statistics and financials.	The Life Offices knew many assets offered on their investment platforms were high-risk, high-commission and bound to fail. These investments would inevitably cause severe losses.
Fujitsu is a key “strategic supplier” to the UK government, making £100m a year from this work, and has won 150 new contracts worth £2.04bn since the 2019 court ruling that Fujitsu’s Horizon IT system caused accounting errors that were blamed on the sub-postmasters.	The Life Offices (Utmost, RL360, Hansard etc) are still to this day used extensively by virtually all offshore brokers and QROPS providers. Posting eye-watering profits and AUM, the Life Offices continue to flourish but offer to pay no compensation to their victims.
Fujitsu’s clients for these lucrative contracts include the Home Office, HMRC, the Foreign Office, the MoD, and the DWP. Plus the £2.4bn lifetime contract Fujitsu still has with the Post Office for the Horizon system.	Life Offices continue to provide unnecessary insurance bonds for virtually the entire offshore financial services market. These products serve only to pay undisclosed commissions to the brokers and provide no benefit to the investors.
Fujitsu and The Post Office have jointly caused millions of pounds’ worth of financial losses and damage to hundreds of sub postmasters. Still only pitifully small amounts of compensation have been paid to the victims.	Life Offices have caused many hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of financial losses to thousands of investors. Still no compensation has been paid or received.
The Post Office continues to pay a herd of lawyers millions of pounds to fight against paying just compensation to the sub postmasters who were victims of this scandalous crisis.	Life Offices Utmost International and Friends Provident are paying lawyers in the IoM to fight against paying compensation to the victims of investment fraud and undisclosed commissions.

WHICH IS WORSE? THE POST OFFICE SCANDAL OR THE LIFE OFFICE SCANDAL?

It really is hard to say. In both cases, thousands of people’s lives have been ruined. Marriages have been destroyed, homes and businesses lost and unnecessary deaths have occurred. The Post Office (and Fujitsu) had a limited and finite pool of victims (only the sub postmasters and their families in the UK) – whereas the Life Offices have an infinite pool of victims across the globe. And this scandal continues to this very day – entirely unsanctioned.

Save for the outstanding justice and compensation due to the sub postmasters, and the impending criminal proceedings against those responsible at The Post Office and Fujitsu (and possibly some of the lawyers who helped cover up their fraud), this matter is over bar the shouting. By contrast, the Life Offices are continuing full blast with the same business model which has destroyed countless lives, families, marriages and life savings.

The Post Office/Fujitsu victims will still have to wait many years for their rightful compensation – while the lawyers continue to get rich and the government prevaricates feebly. There are faint signs that Paula Vennells and Nick Read may yet serve time behind bars. But at least something is being done, and there is a legal process in place. However, the Isle of Man and Irish governments and regulators have shown zero interest in the fraud committed and facilitated by the Life Offices.

January 21, 2025

Utmost Leonteq Fraud
In 2018, Old Mutual International (now Utmost International) announced it was suing structured note provider Leonteq. This was over a series of rogue structured notes with an extra layer of secret commission paid to scammers without Utmost International’s knowledge (allegedly). These notes had failed because they were so enormously high risk. The result was thousands of Utmost’s victims losing huge amounts of their pensions and life savings.

On 28th May 2024, it was announced by QROPS trustees and Old Mutual (later renamed Quilter and now owned by Utmost International – formerly Generali) that Leonteq had settled out of court for the damages caused by these toxic structured notes to thousands of investors.

This announcement was reported by Momentum Pensions in Malta – among other QROPS trustees. Some victims of offshore pension scams facilitated by Old Mutual, Generali, Utmost, RL360, SEB and other life offices will get some compensation for a small part of their huge losses.

Old Mutual International, the life office responsible for thousands of ruined lives in Spain and beyond, announced in 2018 that it was suing structured-note provider Leonteq. There had been a series of extra toxic, high-risk notes for which Leonteq had been paying scammers additional commission “under the table” (i.e. not disclosed to Old Mutual). In early 2023 the matter was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

But this is no real compensation for the years of distress and poverty the many thousands of Utmost’s victims have gone through. Lives have been ruined. Families torn apart. Homes lost. Victims have died miserable, lonely deaths – leaving distraught and destitute spouses and partners.

It had originally been reported that Old Mutual had been suing Leonteq for somewhere between £94 million and £200 million. The basis for this action was undisclosed commissions – which is fraud. But Utmost (along with all other life offices) had been quite happy to pay millions in undisclosed commissions to the vast array of scammers who sell their offshore bonds and toxic investments (such as structured notes). But while Utmost had no problem with these outrageous commissions being kept secret from the victims, they objected to the Leonteq commissions being hidden from Utmost themselves.

Momentum is taking further advice on the legalities and tax implications of paying this compensation to pension scheme members. Presumably, STM, SEB and other QROPS providers who had facilitated this fraud will be doing likewise.

While this is indeed welcome news for the thousands of pension savers whose lives were ruined by these failed investments, it does leave many unanswered questions:
- Why did the life offices such as Utmost give terms of business to the scammers in the first place?
- Why didn’t Utmost ensure the scammers disclosed the commissions on the insurance bonds and also on the investments?
- Why did Utmost allow retail investors’ money to be invested in professional-investor-only, high-risk investments?
- Will Utmost be paying compensation for all the other structured notes which were toxic and which failed?
Utmost’s answer to these questions would, obviously, be: “We didn’t give investment advice”. And this is the excuse they will make when they testify in the Isle of Man court – where Signature Litigation and Forsters are suing them and Friends Provident International for £400 million for this very crime.

Utmost and all the other life offices did not – indeed – give investment advice. However, they did act on the investment instructions (often forged) of unlicensed scammers – and reported on the resulting crippling losses for thousands of policyholders. Despite being fully aware of these losses, Utmost continued accepting investment instructions (often with forged investor signatures) for years – paying the same undisclosed commissions to the same scammers, with the same resulting losses.

In fact, Utmost International continues with this fraud to this very day. And now there is evidence that they are paying even higher undisclosed commissions to the very same scammers who have already ruined so many lives for well over a dozen years.

Utmost had not been the only life office involved in the Leonteq structured note scandal. Friends Provident International, Generali, Investors Trust, Julius Baer, RL360 and SEB had all been similarly culpable. But it looks like Utmost had been the only one to sue Leonteq for this fraud.

And let us be clear, undisclosed commission does constitute fraud – irrespective of whether it is committed by the scammers, Leonteq or Utmost International.

There had been many scammers involved in the receipt of the Leonteq extra (under-the-table) commissions. Known as “Chiringuitos Financieros” by the Spanish regulator, the CNMV, they included Finsbury Financial, Chase Buchanan, Square Mile (later known as Planet Pensions) and – of course – the notorious Continental Wealth Management in Spain.

Perhaps the biggest question which remains unanswered is why the regulator – the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority – has done nothing to sanction the likes of Quilter, Utmost, Friends Provident and RL360? The regulator’s Chair – Lillian Boyle – has been in place since 2015 so she must have known perfectly well how much fraud had been facilitated by the life offices.

Boyle had previously been the CEO, Director and Chair of Isle of Man international life companies and their overseas subsidiaries and branches. So she must have had intimate knowledge of how the secret-commission fraud worked. And yet she has stayed silent.

The IoM FSA’s Chief Executive is Bettina Roth. She has worked for the regulator in the Cayman Islands (that well-known jurisdiction for dodgy financial dealings – including the Trafalgar Multi Asset Fund investment scam). And yet she too has stayed silent. Both Boyle and Roth must know that the Isle of Man is under the spotlight with nearly half a billion pounds’ worth of claims against the death offices for fraud (and a billion more in the pipeline).

The IoMFSA’s own website claims it is “responsible for protecting consumers, reducing financial crime and maintaining confidence in the financial services sector through strong prudential supervision”. And yet the very financial crime that Old Mutual and Utmost International have been committing for more than a dozen years – under the very nose of the regulator – is ignored.

It is indeed great news that Leonteq has paid up. But, did that payment include all the extra-commission paid on the toxic structured notes? And any interest, damages and compensation for the losses and the fraud? And what about the other structured note providers whose toxic products caused just as much (and sometimes more) damage to thousands of victims?

Royal Bank of Canada, Nomura and Commerzbank also listed their toxic products on Utmost Internationals’ investment platforms. A multitude of scammers (who had terms of business with the life offices) used these to ruin their low-risk, retail victims. Did any of these big financial institutions care that they were facilitating financial crime on a massive scale – and ruining thousands of lives?

With the IoM regulator silent, this massive international fraud continues to this day. The life offices are still paying the scammers huge undisclosed commissions for both the insurance bonds and the investments listed on their platforms. In fact, the bond commission can be as high as 9% – for a product that nobody needs and which only serves to facilitate fraud against the policyholders.

In 2018, Utmost International commissioned a report on the Leonteq structured note scam from https://www.futurevc.co.uk/ – a consultancy firm which specialised in structured products systems and research analytics. Their Managing Director, T. M. Mortimer, analysed a test sample of 100 notes and reported the below fees and commission figures:

Fee Level Number of Occurrences
Less than 6% 9
6% – 8% 4
8% – 12% 21
12% – 16% 26
16% – 20% 14
20% – 24% 12
24% – 28% 6
28% or more 8
100

Mortimer concluded: “In my view a total fee of 8% taken between Leonteq and its associates would be reasonable. This corresponds to the entries in the first two rows in the table.”

This means that only 13% were reasonably (i.e. viably) priced. The remaining 87% were vastly overpriced with extortionate commissions paid to the scammers.

The insurance bond scam continues to flourish in all the typical British expat destinations – from Spain and Portugal to Thailand and the Middle East. Life offices such as Utmost International and RL360 continue to fuel the global undisclosed commission fraud machine – with scammers posing as financial advisers and selling over-priced products rather than proper financial advice.

Leonteq is still doing a roaring trade – thanks to the offshore scammers and the life offices. The secret-commission fraud still flourishes unhindered. Utmost International and Friends Provident International are throwing millions at defending the Signature and Forsters actions brought by thousands of victims. The regulators remain silent.

Every day more victims are created. How many more victims need to be ruined before something is done to put a stop to this huge-scale offshore financial crime? Leonteq may have paid up – but now the life offices themselves (including Utmost International, RL360 and SEB) need to pay up too.
June 12, 2024
TOP 3 WORST LIFE OFFICES
For over a decade, life offices (more accurately known as “death” offices) have been the centre of millions of pounds’ worth of destroyed pensions. So here we are going to name the top 3 worst life offices…

These are just some of the things they’ve been up to:
- Collaborating with scammers: unregulated, rogue firms posing as “advisory” firms
- Giving terms of business to firms run by people with criminal records for embezzlement, fraud, theft and proceeds of crime (as well as murderers, drug dealers and prostitutes)
- Paying hidden commissions to unlicensed, unqualified advisers with a long track record of scamming
- Accepting obviously forged investment dealing instructions from the scammers
- Reporting on huge losses in pension portfolios without warning the victims not to use the scammers responsible any longer
- Continuing to charge disproportionate fees even after the loss of half or more of the pension. (There are, in fact, some victims whose entire portfolios have been destroyed – but the death offices keep on applying their charges long after there is nothing left)
- Offering high risk, toxic investments paying huge commissions to unqualified advisers and scammers on their investment platforms
- Failing to disclose the secret commissions paid to the scammers
- Failing to treat investors as “retail” or unsophisticated investors
- Failing to obtain confirmation from the victims that they understand the risks involved in both the insurance bonds and the toxic investments – which are only suitable for professional investors
In fact, much of what these death offices have been up to is outright fraud. The public needs to be warned. The existing victims are suffering terribly – dealing with poverty and extreme distress. Some of them are dying; some of them have died – killed by the death offices’ and the scammers they do business with.

The most important thing of all is to try to prevent further victims. But this is difficult because so many scammers are still aggressively selling their victims these toxic, unnecessary and expensive death bonds. Also known as “portfolio bonds”, “offshore bonds” and “wrappers”, these products pay the scammers huge commissions which are hidden from the victims.

So who are the three worst offenders:

David Kneeshaw

Number 3. Friends Provident International – based in the Isle of Man and run by David Kneeshaw – Executive Director and Group Chief Executive Officer. Kneeshaw also runs RL360 – another death office – which bought Friends Provident International a couple of years ago for a quarter of a billion pounds. Friends Provident International has a long history of investing its victims’ life savings and pensions in toxic, risky funds such as Axiom Legal Financing, LM Managed Performance, Premier New Earth, Premier Eco Resources, and Kijani . These investments were high risk and unregulated as well as only suitable for sophisticated or professional investors.

Paul Thompson

Number 2. Generali (now known as Utmost International) – based in Guernsey and with the head office in London. Utmost has terms of business with the worst of the scammers in the advisory community – paying the illegal, secret and abusive commissions and featuring the worst of the highest-risk investments (including structured notes with a risk to the investor of total loss). Run by Paul Thompson – who claims to have over 30 years of industry experience as an investment banker. Generali – or Utmost – has a track record even worse than Friends Provident International’s. The same secret commissions are paid to the same scammers – with the same result – crippling losses, poverty, misery – and even death for the victims.

Peter Kenny

Number 1. Old Mutual International (now known as Quilter International) – Based in the Isle of Man and the Republic of Ireland, this death office used to be run by Peter Kenny who was a former Isle of Man regulator. But being a former regulator didn’t stop Kenny from doing business with the worst of the unlicensed pension scammers and allowing them to forge signatures on investment dealing instructions. Being a former regulator didn’t stop Kenny from paying out millions in illegal commissions to the dross of the offshore financial services community – for illegally-sold death bonds and unregulated investments and structured notes. Quilter International was sold to Utmost International last year (2021) for nearly half a billion pounds. Because there’s money in misery; there are fortunes to be made out of trading with criminals; there are huge profits to be made out of contravening pretty much all of the EU regulations.

All of the worst three life/death offices are still doing a roaring trade. Business has returned to pre-pandemic levels. Europe is their biggest market – with many of their victims based in Spain, Italy, Germany and other expat countries.

International Adviser – the advertising and marketing rag for the death offices – reported last week that not only was business booming for the death offices, but was now exceeding pre-pandemic levels. In 2020 they wrote £58 billion worth of business. And in 2021 it was £68 billion.

But these huge numbers mean nothing to the victims who have lost their homes, their marriages, their retirement futures. Three quarters of a billion pounds may mean nothing to the likes of David Kneeshaw, Paul Thompson and Peter Kenny. Sometimes fifty grand can mean the difference between life and death for a victim of the death offices. With Friends Provident, Utmost and Quilter International likely to do £78 billion worth of business in 2023, there will be even more misery, destitution, and death for the victims. And the scammers will already be counting their future profits from the illegal commissions.
July 20, 2022

Fee Level	Number of Occurrences

Less than 6%	9
6% – 8%	4
8% – 12%	21
12% – 16%	26
16% – 20%	14
20% – 24%	12
24% – 28%	6
28% or more	8
	100

Tag: Utmost International

Gary Robinson, also MD of Money Map Media, pictured above promoting Nigel Green of DeVere, claims:

Five years later, the 2025 IA awards not only target the death offices but also the rogue jurisdictions which act as enthusiastic incubators for so much international financial crime. IA Nominations for International Financial Centre of the Year include:

These Malta-based pension providers open the gateway to the death offices in the Isle of Man – who host the high-risk investments and facilitate the illegal commissions. The Asset Review Team at Quilter International had reported concerns about this a decade ago:

“Commerzbank and Leonteq structured products appear to be risky and not good value due to relatively high commissions.”

The Asset Review Team also described the undisclosed commission arrangement operated by Nigel Green’s DeVere:

WHICH IS WORSE? THE POST OFFICE SCANDAL OR THE LIFE OFFICE SCANDAL?

And let us be clear, undisclosed commission does constitute fraud – irrespective of whether it is committed by the scammers, Leonteq or Utmost International.

These are just some of the things they’ve been up to:

So who are the three worst offenders:

All of the worst three life/death offices are still doing a roaring trade. Business has returned to pre-pandemic levels. Europe is their biggest market – with many of their victims based in Spain, Italy, Germany and other expat countries.