Complex Financial claims are our area of specialist expertise whether it’s the mis-selling of SIPPs, pensions, shares, bonds as well as derivatives such as CFDs and other Securities. If you think you might have been mis-sold any of these financial products, please contact us today for your free assessment.

What’s the claims process?

Most of the cases we handle are presented to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

This is because most claims are related to financial advisors or stockbrokers who have gone out of business. The FSCS is the statutory fund of last resort and basically steps into the shoes of any regulated firm that has been declared in default.

As it stands the FSCS limits compensation to £85,000 per eligible person per firm, for firms that failed on or after 1st April 2019. This figure drops to £50,000 per eligible person per firm, for firms that failed from 1st January 2010 to 31 March 2019. For firms that failed before this date, the amount is £48,000.

The FSCS is a free service so you can make a claim for compensation yourself. To make a successful claim, you must provide sufficient evidence to prove that civil liability exists against the firm. You will also need to demonstrate where the liability exists and present this to the FSCS.

Or you can contact Gains Clark and we can look after the process for you from start to finish.

But I think the firm is still trading?

Then your complaint must be made directly to the firm. There are regulatory procedures and timeframes the firm must comply with when dealing with any complaint.

If you’re unhappy with their final decision, your complaint can be referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). You can refer your complaint independently to the FOS at no cost or again Gains Clark can manage this process for you.

If you’re unsure whether you have grounds for a complaint to the firm, contact us directly and we will quickly establish if you have a basis for a claim.

Mis-Sold Shares / Derivatives (I.e CFDs)

Shares, Securities and Derivatives are often risky investments and you need good advice when deciding where to invest your money. Many clients are simply unaware that they have been -sold these investment products, sometimes such mis-selling could have occurred up to 20 years ago. If you feel you may have been affected please get in touch to discuss this further.

How could I have been mis-sold?

A question often posed by our clients and mis-selling claims can occur for several reasons

The firm was trading as principal but didn’t disclose this
Risks were not adequately explained to you
Risk was downplayed
Your financial situation was not assessed correctly
The product was simply not suitable for you
The broker gave you false or misleading information
Commission charges were not explained adequately

Pensions

Many people often receive completely unsuitable pension advice and are enticed to act on this. As a result money which they are relying on for their retirement is lost/ greatly diminished or guaranteed benefits associated with their final salary pensions are completely lost.

Sound familiar?

Your pension was created to provide an income for you in retirement, if the pension fund is greatly diminished or you’ve lost benefits it would naturally have a very negative effect on your financial situation and standard of living.

Have you received unsuitable pension advice and acted on it? Then you could have lost money meant for your retirement or lost the guaranteed benefits linked with a final salary pension – or both. Your pension is designed to give you an income in retirement, and any major loss of funds or benefits could have a very negative effect on your future standard of living.

Defined Benefit Scheme Transfers

Defined benefit or final salary schemes provide guaranteed, protected rights that provide you with a lump sum and an income for life. Transferring out of this type of scheme will mean losing those guaranteed benefits and taking on the risk of managing your own pension funds.

In 2018, the Financial Conduct Authority reviewed a range of defined benefit pension transfers carried out by regulated firms. They concluded that it was more likely than not that the advice received was unsuitable, and they have now requested data from every firm.

Potentially, this is now a regulatory time bomb. In fact, the value of defined benefit pension transfer compensation claims paid by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme almost doubled in 2017 to £37.5m. This figure hit £40 million in 2018. There have been a number of SIPP operator failures since then and the FSCS expects to pay compensation for these failures.

Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP)

SIPPs allow you to take control of the investments within your pension. Typically a more experienced investor would want to take an active role in their own investments.

You can hold direct investments in company shares, land, commercial property and a variety of non-standard or obscure investments which carry a high degree of risk. The product charges can also be significantly higher, which will ultimately affect the overall performance of the investments.

This type of product may therefore be unsuitable for many standard investors. What’s more, because of the flexibility of SIPPs, they have been used to carry out scams, or by firms offering clients unregulated investments that generate excessive commissions or introducer fees.

What sort of unregulated investments are you talking about?

A non-standard investment is usually unregulated, might not be easy to accurately value and is not readily realised within 30 days. These are generally part of a SIPP and have featured in many scams involving assets like:

These assets will usually carry a high degree of risk and may have been the subject of fraud investigations and pension scandals.

Does this sound familiar? Get in touch to start your claim now