FCA fines Sesame £1.6m for pay-to-play arrangements

Sesame, the UK's largest network of financial advisers, has been fined £1.6m by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for setting up a pay-to-play scheme that undermined RDR rules.

The pay-to-play scheme meant that the range of products recommended to Sesame clients under its restricted advice service was influenced by the amount of services Sesame had sold to product providers. The FCA found that Sesame promoted its own commercial interests over the interests of its clients. Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement and financial crime, said: "Firms must place customers at the heart of their business. Our reforms were designed to ensure advice is based on what is best for the client not the adviser. "Firms can have had no doubt about the outcomes we were lo...