FSA demands UCIS activity update

The FSA has sent letters to IFAs demanding information on their advice around, and dealings with, unregulated collective investment schemes (UCIS) for retail clients over the last four years.

The letters, sent on 20 June, ask a number of questions about the 250 firms' UCIS activities, as well as the systems and controls in place since 1 January 2008. Twenty providers have also been sent the letters, which follow up the regulator's ongoing supervisory work that found the majority of firms were unable to demonstrate they took reasonable care ensuring clients were eligible to receive UCIS promotions. In the letter to advisers, Linda Woodall, the head of the FSA's Investment Intermediaries department, said: "We are asking a number of firms we believe have recently carried on U...