FCA wins Court of Appeal battle over land banking scheme

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has won a Court of Appeal victory over a land banking scheme but said it is unlikely investors will get back all of their cash.

Court of Appeal judges dismissed, on all counts, an appeal by David Banner-Eve and Asset Land L.I. Asset Land L.I. was a land banking firm, run by Banner-Eve and his associates, selling plots of land as investments in Stansted, Harrogate, Lutterworth, Newbury, Liphook and South Godstone. The regulator said the judgement makes it clear that the law around collective investment schemes (CIS), which require FCA authorisation, does apply to these arrangements and that "any effort to avoid authorisation on technical legal points will be unlikely to succeed". While the ruling will lead t...