How to protect yourself from unauthorised firms

A flurry of warnings from the new financial services regulator, the FCA, in the past week about unauthorised financial services firms is a sure-fire sign it intends to stick to its 'consumer first' promise. There are of course plenty of unauthorised firms that are running scams; recently, many have come from overseas companies targeting UK consumers. The important thing to remember is that if you deal with an unauthorised firm - whether they are running a scam or not - you will not be covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) or Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) if ...