Thai hotels, olive trees and 'conflicts of interest' - Portafina's complaints laid bare

Unregulated collective investment schemes

Hannah Godfrey
clock • 13 min read

In the early part of this decade, advice firm Portafina, then known as Portal Financial, recommended a number of clients place the majority of their pensions savings into a handful of unregulated collective investment schemes (UCIS).

In the early part of this decade, advice firm Portafina, then known as Portal Financial, recommended a number of clients place the majority of their pensions savings into a handful of unregulated collective investment schemes (UCIS). Since 2016, the firm has received more than 100 complaints from clients, with many being taken to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Strikingly, nine in every 10 concluded cases have been upheld in favour of clients - a much higher proportion than the average for self-invested personal pension (SIPP) based gripes. What is more, in a few of the cases, the...

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