Angie

Store First v Insolvency Service Battle – the Insolvency Service’s Witness Statement

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In the run up to the High Court proceedings to hear the Insolvency Service’s petition to wind up Store First, here is some background.  This is an abridged version of the Insolvency Service’s witness statement regarding the Store First pension investment scam.  It involved two bogus occupational pension schemes set up and administered by Stephen […]

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Raising standards – financial advisers and qualifications

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I read an interesting article recently which has prompted this blog, written by Blair duQuesnay, CFA®, CFP® – an investment adviser at Ritholtz Wealth Management, LLC. Blair suggests that the most important change needed in the financial industry is qualifications. Poorly qualified advisers give poor investment advice. Bad investments advice leads to loss of funds. Blair has

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Who killed the pension? Scammers; ceding providers; introducers; HMRC?

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In every pension scam there is one beginning, lots of middles, and always a wretched ending for the victim and a profitable ending for the scammers. The beginning is always a negligent, lazy, box-ticking transfer by a ceding provider – the worst of which always tend to be the likes of Standard Life, Prudential, Scottish

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Generali – jumping ship to avoid new regulations?

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The mis-selling of life assurance policies and long-term savings plans has been a regular topic in our blogs.  Many victims of pension scams see their funds mis-invested into life assurance policies. These life assurance policies do little more than drain the fund value with their expensive fees and costs. Generali has for years been aggressively

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PENSION OMBUDSMAN COMPLAINTS AGAINST NEGLIGENT CEDING TRUSTEES

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Pension Life is now submitting complaints to the Pensions Ombudsman against ceding pension trustees who handed over members’ pension funds to scams and scammers.  These negligent transfers have ruined thousands of lives and cost victims hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of losses.  Some victims have already died and others are contemplating suicide.  Complaints against  negligent

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Ten Essential Standards For Pension Advice

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Ten Essential Standards For Pension Advice: The ongoing war against pension scammers continues with no sign that the end is near.  The authorities stand idly by – facilitating mis-selling and outright fraud. HMRC happily registers pension scam after scam after scam (followed by tax demands).   Prosecutions are few and far between. The only conclusive way to

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Time for all pension providers to wake up and stop pension scams

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The recent PSIG (Pension Scams Industry Group) Scams Survey Pilot 2018 has identified seven “key” findings in their survey. As scam watchers, we are well aware of these points and are, of course, glad they have been highlighted. PSIG’s key finding are set out below.  So let us admit one key fact: ALL PENSION SCAMS START WITH A

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Cold calling scammers target expats after the ban in UK – BBC4 You and Yours

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Every year we are seeing an increase in the number of victims falling for pension and investment scams. Despite warnings in the public domain and a huge array of information about how to avoid falling victim to a scam, it seems the scammers are so skilled at their sales techniques, that even the cleverest of

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More negligence from trustees Berkeley Burke – Store First

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Another victim of Berkeley Burke SIPPS investments into Store First storage pods has come forward. 55-year-old factory worker Robert McCarthy, of Ebbw Vale, said he has lost more than £30,000 through a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). He was duped into the transfer and investment by unregulated firm Jackson Francis which was liquidated in 2014.  His investment

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