Two ex-directors of failed adviser TailorMade Independent (TMI) - the main distributor of £400m troubled unregulated property scheme Harlequin - have been banned and fined by the regulator for not assessing the suitability of clients' investments made through self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs), the method most commonly used to invest in Harlequin.
Lloyd Pope and Peter Legerton have been banned from senior positions in financial services. Pope has been fined £93,800, Legerton would have been fined £84,000, but for financial hardship. The FCA found both men fundamentally failed to act in the best interests of clients, but Legerton benefitted financially from conflicts of interest between TailorMade and an unregulated firm that introduced new business to it. Advisers and agents selling clients investments in Caribbean villas run by Harlequin received commissions of up to 15%, according to a lawyer close to the situation. Pope a...
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