FCA fines financial planning firm £107k for unsuitable pension transfer advice

£2.6m in redress paid

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined LJ Financial Planning (LJFP) £107,200 for providing its customers with unsuitable pension switching and transfer advice and for failing to manage its conflicts of interest.

LJFP, based in Warrington, advised 114 customers to transfer their pensions into self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) between March 2010 and December 2012. The firm did not provide any advice on the underlying investments that were to be held in those SIPPs, the FCA said, and the investments were often high-risk, esoteric and illiquid. The regulator said that, when advising the clients, LJFP failed to consider not just whether a SIPP was suitable, but also whether the investments held within that SIPP were suited to the customer's needs and appetite for risk.  The firm knew the ...