The emailed correspondence tells the Sipp providers that they must let the FSA know within two working days if they do not have clients in Harlequin; if they do, they must fill out and return, within five days, a spreadsheet that came with the email.
A spokesman for the FSA did not say how many Sipp providers received the notification.
As reported, the FSA wrote to Sipp providers 18 days ago asking them to say whether they had any clients invested in the firm. This followed an alert the authority issued on the company in January, in which it noted that the company was “a UK based overseas property sales agent that is not regulated by the FSA”. Days later the UK’s Serious Fraud Office announced on its website that it was “looking into complaints in relation to the Harlequin group”.
Yesterday, as reported, it was revealed that the BBC’s investigative news show, Panorama, will feature Harlequin on its show next Monday evening.
The company has consistently denied any wrong-doing.
Concern over use in SIPPs
The FSA’s interest in Harlequin stems from concerns that some SIPP providers may have unwittingly allowed investments in the company’s properties to be included in clients’ SIPP portfolios.
SIPPs are a popular investment format among Britons, and many keep their SIPPs intact when they move abroad, particularly if they intend to return to the UK one day.
The problem for investors with properties like Harlequin’s in their pension portfolios, pension experts say, is that if problems arise they may not be easily sold at the price the investor is expecting, should the pension need to be liquidated.
The FSA’s action has, therefore, revived talk among pension scheme administrators and advisers about the appropriateness of certain types of investments for pension schemes.
