The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Floris Jakobus Huisamen £31,800 and banned him from working in financial services.
Huisamen, a former director of London Capital & Finance, was responsible for compliance at the firm, but the FCA said he “recklessly signed off hundreds of financial promotions, which contributed to thousands of investors being misled.”
The watchdog said financial promotions signed off by Huisamen presented a misleading picture of the minibonds and made them appear a far more attractive investment than they were.
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Investors were not given the full picture about the risks of the product, including the presence of hidden charges and the unsustainable nature of the lending being carried out by LCF, the FCA added.
According to the regulator, Huisamen signed off the promotions despite his own concerns about LCF’s strategy, and failed to provide proper scrutiny or sufficiently challenge senior management.
Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, said: “Mr Huisamen should have ensured LCF’s financial promotions were ‘fair, clear, and not misleading’. However, under him, the approval process became an ineffective tick-box exercise – as a result, thousands of investors were persuaded to invest on the basis of highly misleading statements.
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“His failings contributed to thousands of retail investors losing significant amounts of money. It is right that he can no longer work in financial services.”
