According to a public record notice on The Gazette, Active Wealth entered creditors’ voluntary liquidation on 5 February.
The firm had its permissions to accept new pension business suspended in November 2017, after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) identified the firm as providing “questionable advice” to BSPS members.
It was the first of several IFA firms to cease giving advice, some voluntarily and others through FCA intervention, after concerns were raised that the BSPS scheme was a “honeypot for scammers”.
In December, Active Wealth’s director Darren Reynolds was one of a number of witnesses called to give evidence before the Work and Pensions Select Committee on the BSPS transfers.
Reynolds failed to appear at the hearing.
St James’s Place
In a statement in December, an SJP spokesman said the firm “has decided that we will no longer be accepting new transfer requests” from members of the BSPS.
“However, we will continue to complete those already in the pipeline, where a recommendation to transfer was made by a St James’s Place adviser prior to 8 December.”
At the time, SJP confirmed to International Adviser that it was not one of the three advice firms to stop advising on pension transfers at the behest of the FCA and the move was a separate business decision.
