Financial advisers who put ordinary investors' money into collapsed £60m property scheme Arck face an even greater struggle with complaints, after the Ombudsman upheld a ruling that the investment was likely to be suitable only for sophisticated clients.
Advice firm Thompson Prior fought back against a FOS decision that it had mis-advised Mr C when it invested £45,000 in Arck via his self-invested personal pension (SIPP) in September 2009. But an Ombudsman has upheld the earlier ruling. That decision stated the Arck scheme - where an investor bought land from Arck and then Arck undertook to buy it back after a certain period - was "an unusual and complex arrangement" that was "unlikely to be easily understood by anyone other than a sophisticated investor". The case could have repercussions for all other advice to invest in Arck, po...
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