FCA to take further action against Hartley

The FCA plans to take further action against Hartley Pensions Limited, a SIPP operator which went into administration in 2022, and an individual involved with it. The FCA says the firm provided false and misleading information, and improperly withdrew and invested significant amounts of customers’ pension funds without consent, to benefit an individual at the firm. It says that individual used those funds dishonestly and made false representations to get money for a company they owned, and then lied to the FCA to conceal what they had done.

The FCA has published warning notices, which are subject to the firm and the individual exercising their right to go to the RDC. As a result, the FCA cannot provide any detail about proposed sanctions, but will make any final decision it makes public at the appropriate time.