Financial advisers may be able to time-bar client complaints by altering their terms of business (ToB) contracts in a dramatic development in the ongoing long-stop saga.
The FSA says it will look at cases on an individual basis after it emerged one IFA is seeking legal advice over whether he can change his key facts, client agreement and ToB documents to include a complaints deadline. Phil Castle, managing director of Kent-based IFA Financial Escape, says he wants to introduce a "contractual" 15-year long-stop which kicks-in the moment a client leaves the firm. The FSA says it will wait to hear the recommendations of Castle's solicitor, but adds: "If a firm wants to introduce a long-stop, that would be reviewed on an individual basis. We would have to...
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