A former financial adviser is now offering claims management services against his former colleagues.
Before Leeds-based Capital & Income Solutions entered liquidation in December 2019, the firm offered clients financial advice. While they were trading, they advised many clients to transfer their defined benefit pension into a private pension.
In doing so, many of their clients lost valuable pension benefits and ended up much worse off. After this, Capital & Income Solutions collapsed at the end of last year after losing its pensions transfer permissions.
There are currently 530 claims lodged with the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) against the former IFA.
Records at Companies House show that, until February 2014, Gary Naylor was a director at the Capital & Income Solutions. Now, however, the former director is working for a claims management company that seeks compensation from the likes of Capital & Income Solutions.
In August 2016, Gary Naylor was appointed as a director of a claims management firm, Assist.Claims. This company helps clients claim compensation for “pensions transfer losses” and is encouraging former clients of Capital & Income Solutions to seek compensation by making a claim.
In response to the new findings, Assist.Claims has said it does not handle anything relating to advice given by the former advisor, Gary Naylor. They have stated that Naylor did not personally advise on final salary pension transfers, though he has advised on defined contribution pension switches.
FSCS records state that there are claims relating to Capital & Income Solutions that date as far back to 2009, at least one of which pertains to Naylor’s advice.
It is not mentioned anywhere on Assist.Claims website that Naylor is a former director of Capital & Income Solutions.
A growing trend of IFAs changing teams
Gary Naylor’s story is the latest in a growing trend of IFAs re-inventing themselves as claims management advisers, taking on claims against the sort of company they used to trade as.
Another notable instance of this was the recent case of an advice firm connected to the British Steel Pensions scandal.
A former director of Fiducia Wealth Solutions, a company which reportedly used introducers to persuade British Steel workers to transfer out of their defined benefit pension, is now trading under a different guise where he offers former clients assistance with compensation claims against financial advisers – a very similar story to Assist.Claims.
It was reported by The Sunday Times last month that Colin Barrett-Treen was a director of Fiducia Wealth Solutions. Companies House records state that he also a director of the newly formed “Fiducia Redress Solutions”, which helps clients claim against mis-sold minibonds.
The Times reported that the FOS had received complaints against Fiducia Wealth Solutions with the firm is now being run by a “caretaker” director, Philip Stone, who is liquidating the firm.
How can Smooth Commercial Law help?
At Smooth Commercial Law, our team of experts have extensive experience in dealing with a whole manner of claims that arise from negligent and/or unsuitable financial advice. We are seeing more and more mis-sold financial claims, and have managed to secure compensation for many of our clients.
Should you have a claim, we can deal with your case and look to recover compensation for not just your loss of investment but also any adverse tax liabilities that you may now be facing as well.
You can contact our experienced team by calling 0800 046 9976 or by emailing sb@smooth-commercial-law.co.uk