FCA provisionally fines pension transfer and British Steel adviser £1.3m

Adviser appealing decision

clock • 2 min read

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has provisionally fined Geoffrey Armin of Retirement and Pension Planning Services nearly £1.3m after he advised 422 clients on transferring out of their defined benefit (DB) pension schemes – including 183 steelworkers.

The financial watchdog said it considered Armin "seriously incompetent" when advising on DB pension transfers. Armin has referred the decision to the Upper Tribunal, meaning these bans and the fine from the FCA is provisional until the tribunal makes its decision on the case, determining whether the regulator's decisions are appropriate. The total value of transfers Armin advised on stood at £125m, some £74m of which related to the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS). The average transfer value for customers he advised was around £298,000.  Between June 2015 and December 2017, Derbysh...

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