Foreman Financial Services, trading as Grainger Co, has been stripped of its permissions by the Financial Conduct Authority after it ignored a Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) decision against it in September 2016.
In the original FOS case, a client, referred to as Mr C, complained about the transfer of his pension into a Sipp which in turn invested in Harlequin.
The ombudsman upheld the complaint and instructed Foreman to calculate fair compensation by comparing the value of Mr C’s pension (if he had not transferred into a Sipp) with its current value.
Mr C complained that Foreman did not assess the suitability of the Harlequin investment, which Foreman rejected. It said that Mr C received pension advice from another adviser who was not permitted to set up Sipps and argued that Mr C was introduced to Foreman only for advice about the Sipp.
Ombudsman Roy Milne decided Forman should have considered the whole “risky” transaction for the client and not just the set-up of the Sipp.
Ordering Foreman to compensate the client in full, Milne said if the other adviser involved was found to be partially responsible the firm could recover some of the money if it compensates the client in full, which it failed to do.
The case is one of three similar findings against the Tunbridge Wells-based adviser, which has gone out of business.
