Sesame Bankhall Group

Codename Project Minerva: Sesame's past business review uncovered

All seven product providers featured on Sesame's ‘focussed' restricted advice panel have denied breaching the regulator's rules on inducements, after the network was fined £1.6m for selling the coveted spots to the highest bidders.

Sesame is "not alone" in selling places on its restricted panel of product providers to the highest bidder, executive chairman John Cowan has said, as the network reels from a £1.6m fine for the banned practice.

Sesame, the UK's largest network of financial advisers, has been fined £1.6m by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for setting up a pay-to-play scheme that "undermined the ban on commission payments brought in by the Retail Distribution Review (RDR)"....

Past and present appointed representatives (ARs) of Sesame have expressed their anger at being told advice previously passed by the network as suitable has now been deemed wrong in a widespread review following a £6m fine from the regulator.

Network Sesame has seen a 6% drop in adviser membership following its move to adopt a restricted proposition, its executive chairman John Cowan has said.

Network Sesame has again come out top as the most complained about advice firm, although numbers of cases against it were down, according to the Financial Ombudsman Service's (FOS) half yearly figures published today.

A listed national IFA has joined the Caerus network after deciding the "time was not right" to become directly authorised (DA).

Sesame Bankhall Group has set aside £31m for possible customer redress as "a number" of business reviews with "uncertain" outcomes are completed, parent company Friends Life has announced.

Support services provider Simplybiz has said it has taken on more than 50 former Sesame advisers this year, as the firm announced its best annual start since 2008.