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Closing summary
Time to wrap up… here are today’s main stories:
FCA forces firms to stop making misleading British Steel pension scheme offers
Back in the steel world, the UK’s financial watchdog has instructed two firms to stop making unsolicited settlement offers to former members of the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS).
Those members are likely to be part of the redress scheme established by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which is concerned that they are being offered unduly low offers.
The FCA says:
Today, we have formally required two firms, Abbey Lane Financial Associates Limited and Estate Capital Financial Management Limited, to stop making these offers.
Abbey Lane made offers of £100 to 82% of its clients who were BSPS members and Estate Capital made offers of £300 to 83% of its former BSPS members.
We are concerned that these offers are significantly misaligned with the average calculated redress of £45,000 for former BSPS members who received unsuitable pension transfer advice.
Back in November, the FCA announced that more than 1,000 former members of the British Steel pension scheme who received unsuitable advice from financial advisers accused of “enriching” themselves will receive an average payout of £45,000 in compensation.
