Landmark Keydata ruling sets dangerous precedent for advisers

The ruling could flood the FOS with poor advice complaints from similarly affected clients, who together lost millions in the worst personal finance scandal for a decade. Ian Shipway, financial planning director for Succession Advisory Services, says if that happens very few firms would be able to defend their position. “In most cases, firms will not have sufficiently robust risk definitions or processes,” he says. In a letter sent this month, a FOS adjudicator states a Positive Solutions IFA made a “business error” when he invested a retired husband and wife in Keydata after ratin...