U-turns and sky-high fees: A tale of two FOS decisions

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Two recent Financial Ombudsman decisions are crucial reading for the SIPP industry. Fiona Murphy looks at the issues.

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has recently taken two high-profile decisions on SIPPs. The first involved the FOS revisiting a ruling concerning SIPP operator Berkeley Burke, which led to questions over due diligence practices and suitability of high-risk investments. In 2011 an investor, referred to as Mr A, transferred £29,394 from a personal pension plan into a SIPP through Berkeley Burke after being introduced by an unregulated agent. He invested £24,195 in Sustainable AgroEnergy, an unregulated investment. The firm went into administration and Mr A lost his entire fund, go...

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