The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has used its suspension power for the first time to ban two subsidiaries of the Financial Group - network Financial Ltd and separate firm Investments Ltd - from recruiting new appointed representatives (ARs) and individual advisers for a period of four and a half months.
The FCA said the firms failed to ensure their ARs and individual advisers were adequately supervised and controlled to minimise the risk of mis-selling and the provision of unsuitable advice to consumers. Were it not for the firms' financial position, the FCA would have imposed a penalty of £12.5m on network Financial and more than £620k on Investments. The regulator said networks play an important role in financial services and it is critical that they have access to quality management information and risk-focussed systems and controls so that they can effectively discharge their res...
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