FSA fines AWD Chase de Vere Wealth Management Ltd £1.12 million for mis-selling

The FSA has fined AWD Chase de Vere Wealth Management Ltd £1.12 million for serious failings in its pension transfer, pension annuity and income withdrawal business that resulted in mis-selling.

The firm mis-sold some pension transfers and pension annuities by recommending products to customers who already had adequate existing pension provisions or whose attitude to risk did not match the products recommended to them. The firm has estimated that as many as 800 of its customers may have received unsuitable advice in relation to 1,200 sales between February 2006 and October 2007.

The FSA also found that the firm sometimes failed to properly disclose the risks and costs of the products it recommended, and was also unable to demonstrate the suitability of its advice from its own records in 39% of the transactions which were reviewed. Based on a sample of recommendations, the FSA found that 28 per cent of transactions resulted in mis-sales.

The Firm is a major independent financial advisory firm and made about 4,300 sales of pension transfers, pension annuities and income withdrawals to approximately 2,800 customers between February 2006 and October 2007.