The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has banned Paul Steel of Estate Matters Financial (EMF) from working in financial services for giving “unsuitable defined benefit (DB) transfer advice”.
Steel has been ordered to pay £850,000 to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) to cover compensation costs. Steel's firm, EMF, advised more than 480 clients on DB pension transfers, including people in the British Steel Pension Scheme between 2015 and 2018. More than £140m of pension assets were transferred as a result. When the FCA investigated a sample of client files in 2019, it found several instances of unsuitable advice. It said 86% of this advice failed to meet the required standards. The regulator also said Steel "showed a lack of honesty and integrity in selli...
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