Appeal Court ruling raises fresh questions over Harlequin advice

The Court of Appeal has backed the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) case that Capital Alternatives and others promoted and operated collective investment schemes without authorisation. Capital Alternatives had structured its schemes to try to avoid the need to be regulated, the FCA said. But Lord Justice Christopher Clarke ruled the schemes met the definition of collective investments - that they pooled investors' monies and that the investments were managed centrally by a firm or firms. He agreed with the FCA that the schemes were unauthorised collective investment schemes and ...