Protected: Forth Capital – qualified & registered?
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
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Trustees Must Block Transfers to Pension Scams
Trustees have the power to block pension transfers if they suspect a scam – they must use it! Now the Ombudsman has upheld a complaint against the Police trustee, there is hope for further justice against negligent pension trustees. In the Royal London v Hughes case, Royal London suspected an attempted transfer was destined to
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Linkedin – locked out
At Pension Life, we write about the good, the bad and the ugly faces of pension and investment news. Unfortunately, there is rarely much good – and quite frequently a lot of bad and ugly news. Using social media like Linkedin and Facebook, we get our blogs out to the masses – because that’s what
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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
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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
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TV licence enforcement versus unlicensed advisers
Pension Life campaigns for awareness of corrupt financial advisers and advisory firms operating without the correct licences. Outing theses advisers and firms, in the hope that the authorities will do something about the state of it all, is one way of bringing these scammers to justice and warning the public. A recent article in
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Seagate Wealth Management Spain – qualified and regulated?
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 Seagate Wealth Management Spain – qualified and registered? IFAs and their clients are invited to add to, correct and improve this blog. Here’s a
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London Quantum pension scam – Ombudsman finds Police Guilty
Pensions Ombudsman’s Determination – Justice for Police Victim Among the flood of apathy, laziness and callousness by ceding pension trustees since at least 2010, we now have a Pensions Ombudsman’s determination which will hopefully result in more trustees being brought to account – and more victims getting justice. The London Quantum victim who made the
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WANTED: MAGIC FAIRY TO CURE WHAT’S WRONG WITH FINANCIAL SERVICES OFFSHORE
Humour me – you may consider me to be naive – but I believe that the ills of financial services (especially offshore) can be put right. All it takes is for the ethical stakeholders to outlaw the unethical ones. Yes, it will be a bit like something out of the Old Testament – but I
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Waging War on Willy Wagglers
When I grow up, I want to be able to write blogs as eloquently as the Mighty Henry Tapper – the Pension Ploughman with a huge plough which furrows deeply through much of the bullshit on Twitter. He also tolerates Ros Altmann with grace and generosity – which is something I could never do no matter
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10 essential questions for offshore advisers
Pension Life is working towards making offshore financial advisers more transparent. We have created a list of 10 essential questions for offshore advisers and their preferred answers. For too long precious pension funds been left in the hands of unqualified, unregistered advisers and unregulated financial advisory firms. Offshore advisers need to follow a strict set of
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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
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OMI IPO Profit Warning
OMI IPO Profit Warning – urgent please read carefully. Old Mutual International (OMI) have entered into an IPO – initial public offering. This means they have become a public company rather than a private one. Frequent readers of Pension Life blogs will know that OMI have featured heavily in our recent blogs with regards to issues
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OLD MUTUAL INTERNATIONAL V LEONTEQ CASE MOVED TO LONDON
Old Mutual International filed a High Court application on 16th March 2018. On 20.3.18, Old Mutual obtained a judgment in the High Court of Justice of the Isle of Man (Case Reference 18/0012). His Honour The Deemster Doyle, First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls delivered his determination to OMI’s lawyer, Elizabeth Simpson of Simcocks.
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DAVID VILKA’S VILE US ATTORNEY
David Vilka of Square Mile International Financial Services has exactly the sort of lawyer one would expect: a scammer’s lawyer. Unsurprisingly, this dope can’t even spell Vilka’s victim’s name and has referred to him as “Mr Sexton” as opposed to “Mr Sefton”. But, again, this is no surprise. What I must challenge, however, is the fact that
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Qualified & registered? We do not need to be – we are offshore!
Pension Life followers will know that we have been conducting a series of blog investigations – “qualified & registered?” into offshore pension companies offering financial advice for retail pension investments. Some of the data we have collated is rather worrying – the purpose of this blog is to rank the companies in order of their
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SEB LIFE (OR DEATH) – WILL THE CENTRAL BANK OF IRELAND BRING THEM TO JUSTICE?
One of the hundreds of Continental Wealth Management victims stuck in a useless and expensive SEB Life International bond, and ruined by crippling investment losses, has made a detailed complaint to SEB. Some idiot from SEB called Orla Golden has replied – and the response is astonishing. Below are my answers to this ridiculous rebuttal.
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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
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Woodbrook 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 Woodbrook Group – qualified and registered? See question 5 on our blog about the ten essential questions to ask any advisory firm you are considering using:
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Globaleye Dubai – advisers 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: are Globaleye Dubai’s advisers qualified and registered? IFAs and their clients are invited to add to it, correct it, improve it. Here’s a link to the three
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FNB International Trustees – Guernsey
FNB International Trustees Guernsey has been caught facilitating financial crime. With their pants firmly around their ankles, they are now trying to “defend” their actions using law firm Carey Olsen and are threatening the victim of this crime with adverse costs. And this is what we always find so hard to comprehend: a trustee firm
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FAST PENSIONS – SLOW LAW ENFORCEMENT – STATIONARY REGULATORS
Fast Pensions – Slow Law Enforcement – Stationary Regulators – same old, same old. Looks like the embarrassment of our hopeless, lazy and impotent regulators and limp law enforcement when it comes to financial crime has struck yet another blow for justice and another goal for the scammers in this case the Moats of Fast
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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
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Trussed by Dolphin Trust?
I’ve been very concerned about Dolphin Trust GmbH for some time. There’s an awful lot of pension money being loaned to this company – and I don’t get to hear of many (in fact any) people who have had their loans repaid. That doesn’t mean they haven’t been repaid – it just means I haven’t heard
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UAE REGULATOR DOES A BIT OF REGULATING
International Investment has written a jolly good article about the recent action taken by the UAE Insurance Authority – headed up by His Excellency Ibrahim Al Zaabi. I quote from Gary Robinson’s article: “In a statement on the Arabic version on its website the IA has issued a circular confirming the suspension (of Holborn Assets) for a
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Blacktower Spain – Qualified and Registered?
Can Blacktower Spain fare any better than other companies we have looked into? How many of their advisers will come out 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
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Blevins Franks Spain – Qualified and registered?
Today I am investigating the Blevins Franks Spain office – let’s see how qualified and registered their financial team are. Many advisers claim to be qualified, but if they do not appear on either the CII or CISI register, you can’t check out what their qualifications actually are. IFAs and their clients are invited to
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10 essential questions to ask an IFA
Most victims of pension and investment scams bitterly regret not having asked more questions with regards to their financial planning. The problem is that they wouldn’t have known what questions to ask, and they probably wouldn’t have understood the answers even if they had. Pension Life offer you 10 essential questions to ask an IFA so
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CWM Pension scam – A victim’s reconstruction
John Rodges had a pension pot of £202,000. He was cold called by a salesman called Dean Stogsdill and persuaded to transfer his pension fund to a QROPS (Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme) with Continental Wealth Management (CWM pension scam using high-risk, professional-investor-only structured notes which Stogsdill referred to as “Blue Chip Notes”). With false
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Holborn Assets’ Kensington Fund – Another Trap to Ruin Victims
Holborn Assets’ Kensington Fund – Another trap to ruin victims. Why do I say that? There are many reasons: Firstly, Holborn Assets should compensate the existing victims of past scams before contemplating moving on to new ones. There are plenty of Holborn Assets clients facing disastrous losses because of being invested in toxic UCIS funds
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STM Fidecs and the Gibraltar FSC – Evil lives on at the rock
STM Fidecs and the Gibraltar FSC – Evil lives on at the rock I have read the report about what happened to the scammers at STM Fidecs in the wake of the Gibraltar FSC’s investigation and Deloitte’s so-called “expert report”. Frankly, I am stunned. I have members who are victims of the Trafalgar Multi-Asset Fund and
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Qualified or not qualified? That is the question.
I have been working for Pension Life for five months. I help Angie Brooks with blogging, images and social media networking. When editing a blog the other day, a question struck me: how do we know if anyone who offers a service is qualified to do so? For example, be it the dentist, doctor or financial adviser. When we
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David Trinkwon – EEA Investors’ Group – RIP
Pension Life was saddened to hear the news that David Trinkwon has passed away. David Trinkwon, coordinator of the EEA Investors’ Group had for a number of years campaigned passionately against EEA Fund Management (Guernsey) Ltd – “EEAFMG”) to help 1000´s of victims of the toxic, collapsed fund. David Trinkwon established EEA Litigation Management early in 2016 to
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High Court Winds up Fast Pensions
Yesterday, Wednesday 30th May, in the High Court, the petition to wind up Fast Pensions and the associated companies and occupational pension schemes, was heard. The order was made that the companies and schemes should be wound up. I would like to thank Michael Gibbon, the son of one of the Fast Pensions members, for
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HOLBORN ASSETS – SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS
Spongebob Parker Squarepants of Holborn Assets has apparently been telling his salesmen that he has paid Glynis Broadfoot £150,000 in compensation for the destruction of her pension by Holborn Assets. Not only is this a big porky pie (she hasn’t had a penny) but it is a cynical and dishonest tactic used to placate and
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International Adviser – Giraffe Awards
Looking at International Adviser’s 2017 awards, I really think the judges were having a giraffe (or they were very drunk). “Best regular premium investment product – Hong Kong – Zurich International Life” Seriously? This grim firm has one of the most expensive long-term savings plans on the market. A victim scammed into buying one of
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TICKING TAX TIME BOMB ON LIFE SAVINGS
Welcome to my world – and the four letter word that sends a chill down most people’s spine: HMRC. A world where justice and taxation are not just in different countries, but on different continents. And, sadly, where thousands of British expats are living under the shadow of a ticking time bomb because of arrangements
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SEB – NO TRUST – NO RESPECT – NO EXCUSE
SEB – NO TRUST – NO RESPECT – NO EXCUSE. SEB’s many victims have no trust or respect for this disgraceful firm which has failed them so dismally. There has been no excuse for SEB’s appalling behaviour – and now is the time for SEB to put the damage right. This week, SEB had the
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Old Mutual International (OMI) facilitating financial crime
From 2010 up to the present day, Old Mutual International has been facilitating financial crime by allowing scammers to misuse and abuse OMI “life bonds” to scam victims out of their life savings. The victims of the CWM scam are still wondering how the hell they lost an average of 60% of their life savings.
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International Investment interview with Pension Life´s Angie Brooks
International Investment interview with Angie Brooks, founder of Pension Life this week. This blog is written by Kim, Angie´s Assistant. Here´s the interview video which explains how Pension Life works to help victims of pension and investment scams. The interview also raises the question as to why pension and investment scams are so prolific –
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Mastermind – Stephen Ward
Since 2010, £millions have been lost to pension scams, thousands of victims have lost their retirement savings, large-scale misery and poverty are the terrible results. One common factor connects many of these scams: one man – Stephen Ward. Here at Pension Life we have made a video – based on the Mastermind quiz. Lessons must
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FCA Pension Scams
I like to have a good relationship with regulators. And believe me I have tried really really hard with the FCA. I didn’t have much of a relationship with the Pensions Regulator in the past. I asked for a meeting with Tinky Winky, tPR’s former executive director. He turned up with two lawyers (in case one
Introduction: Anatomy of a Pension Scam
£11,000,000,000. That is an awfully big number. But this is what financial fraud of pension and investment scamming cost thousands of victims in 2016 according to reported statistics. This begs the urgent question: why have so few – if any – of them been prosecuted? The Pensions Regulator’s Lesley Titcomb has now officially and
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GENERALI WORLDWIDE – FINANCIAL CRIME FACILITATOR
Generali has responded to one of the complaints by CWM victims. I have transcribed it below and put my comments in bold. First, let us look at what Generali says on its own website. It is utterly astonishing as it is a complete pack of lies and does nothing to prove it was not facilitating
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I’d rather have a cup of tea than sex – Boy George
I’D RATHER HAVE A CUP OF TEA THAN SEX – Boy George BG had a point. A cuppa can be enjoyed without taking your clothes off or getting your hair messed up. Plus you can easily do it with people you haven’t quite made up your mind about. This is my dilemma. I am enormously
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Holborn Assets Cambodia Convention & Summit 2019
I am disappointed that Holborn Assets didn’t invite me to their Tanzania convention extravaganza – as it sounds like it was a lot of fun. And I do enjoy the occasional glass of Babycham and a nibble on a tiny sausage. But I am hoping to be invited to the next one in Cambodia in
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Keep Calm: Just avoid OMI/Quilter
OLD MUTUAL INTERNATIONAL HYPOCRISY OVER NEW MALTA REGULATIONS OMI’s Peter Kenny advises the industry to “keep calm”. He obviously wants to be able to keep flogging these useless, pointless and exorbitantly expensive insurance bonds to thousands of innocent victims. With the announcement of new regulations in Malta for QROPS, International Adviser has quoted managing director
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SEB – DESTROYING LIFE SAVINGS
SEB – DESTROYING LIFE SAVINGS – accepting business and investment instructions from unlicensed scammers. SEB Life International Assurance offers so-called life assurance policies to expats living in Spain. SEB claim that their policies are straightforward and help investors to construct investment portfolios specifically to individual needs. The truth is, life assurance policies with SEB destroy life
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Protecting your pension fund from pension vampires
Protect your pension fund at all costs. Pension “vampires” disguised as friendly and legitimate pension advisers are still out there – prowling the land trying to find victims. Ever evolving and changing their strategies to seduce you into transferring your pension fund, often into a high-risk, toxic investment that rewards them with high commission but
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Pension liberation scammers of Successful Pensions JAILED
Two pension liberation scammers have been sentenced to time behind bars AND a recovery of funds after creating an elaborate pension liberation scam, involving around 23 victims and nearly 1 million pounds of pension funds. Successful Pensions sure was unsuccessful for all involved. Anthony Locke, 33, from Christchurch in the UK, was sentenced to a
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